Seeds of Discordia

Artem, Blair, and Roman sprinted into the doorless entrance Liam had pointed out. The room was vast and deep as they entered. The walls, floors, and ceiling were made out of stone. Four stone pillars stood tall around what looked like a rectangular box. The box was covered with layers of spiderwebs, much like the webs that covered most of the room and rested on a raised section of the floor in the middle of the room.

Artem took a quick glance at the box, stopped, pointed, and said, “Nope.”

Blair and Roman looked at him with a confused expression.

“What do you mean nope?” Roman questioned.

“It’s not as big as that one, but this looks almost exactly like the setup of that floor boss we took on, on the fifth floor of the Tutorial Dungeon,” Artem explained. “That Pharoah Mummy Lord asshole.”

Roman and Blair scanned the room once more. After a few seconds had passed Roman nodded and said, “Yeah. I can see that.”

Blair glared at Roman. He gave her a confused look as he shrugged and said, “What? I can totally see this being a mini version of that boss room.” He then waved a hand out at the room as he added, “Except instead of this being full of other coffins, there’s only one and this room is full of spiderwebs. Maybe there’s a Spider Mummy Lord here?”

Blair smacked the back of Roman’s head making him let out a confused protest while rubbing the spot he was hit on. He took a couple steps forward away from Blair as he turned and faced them. “What the hell was that for?”

“You’re making things more difficult,” Blair stated as she looked around the room.

“How? For being honest?” Roman looked at Artem and saw he was starting to shake lightly as he looked around. “Listen man. I know you’re scared of spiders, but you’ve been doing great so far. I am proud of you for getting this far. Really, I am.”

Artem looked at Roman. He was unsure if the smaller fox tailed man was being sincere or making fun of him.

“However, you have nothing to fear in this room,” Roman started. “Nothing has popped out to attack us. And this box thingy…” Roman walked over to the rectangle box and slammed a hand down. To his surprise it didn’t make a hollowed noise. Instead it was a solid slap, like slapping a hand on a stoned object. “This isn’t a sarcophagus like the ones back in that room.”

Roman ran a hand over the object, dragging a huge clump of spiderwebs along with it. “This thing is just some random stone object.”

Blair and Artem took a better look at it and then gave him a weird expression. Roman noticed the expressions made a frown and asked, “What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“That’s not just a stone object,” Artem replied.

Roman looked at the rectangle object once again. He looked especially at the area that no longer had spiderwebs. Now in their place he saw there were some words that said, “Here Lies Mr.”

Roman stared at it then at his hand then back at the others. “Okay, this is a coffin. A stone coffin. This is looking more like that room now.”

Blair rolled her eyes. “Can you guys knock it off? We have something we need to do here, and we don’t know how long Liam can hold them off for.”

“You say that, but I don’t see anyone or anything in here,” Roman stated.

“That’s because you while you were dicking around you weren’t getting a better look at the room,” Blair chastised.

“Oh? Are you saying you know what we’re looking for then?” Roman argued.

“No, but I did find a broken wall in the back that leads further in,” Blair shot back, pointing at something.

“Seriously?” Roman and Artem questioned as they looked at the area Blair had pointed.

In the back of the room in the middle of the wall was an opening. It looked like something had destroyed that part of the wall from the other side as chunks of broken pieces of stone bricks were scattered around. Webs had coated around it but didn’t cover it at all.

“Nice job,” Artem said as he followed Blair to the back.

As the three made it over to it they noticed the area beyond the room was nothing but a dirt tunnel. Yooperlite Stones were spread out along the dirt walls, giving some light. From where they stood it looked like the path curved further in.

Artem, Blair, and Roman took a moment to glance at each other. Roman nodded at them before placing a hand down on the dirt path of the tunnel. His foxlike ears twitched a few times as he focused. After a few seconds had passed he looked at them and said, “I feel there are five people further in. They are standing in place, but they are continuously casting a spell of some sorts.”

“How do you know they are continuously casting a spell and not doing something else?” Blair questioned.

“I can feel some sort of vibrations running down their legs,” Roman started. “Since they aren’t moving, the vibrations are hitting the ground at the same spot each time they shake. Also these vibrations are different than the ones made when someone is moving. I still don’t understand how I can tell the difference, but that’s what I’m going off of.”

Blair nodded as she listened to Roman. “Okay. We’ll go in swiftly, but quietly. We don’t know how long Liam can keep up whatever he had planned.”

Artem and Roman nodded as Artem took the lead. Blair followed right behind as Roman took the rear. It didn’t take them long to reach a new area as they rounded the curve. Artem stopped them so they didn’t get spotted by whoever was in the room. Artem looked back at Roman and nudged his head in a motion that told him to look.

Roman understood why he wanted him out of the three to peek. It was because he was smaller and could look in further thanks to his racial benefits with his sight. Blair could have peeked as well, but because she was taller than Roman and had a helmet that stuck out she would have been spotted.

Roman approached the edge and peeked his head out to look inside the new area. What he saw was something he wasn’t expecting. The room was much bigger than the room they were just in. There were holes that led into tunnels all over. Four on the ground level, seven in the middle of the walls and even holes in the ceiling. It was almost like this was a tunnel system for bugs. Giant bugs.

That wasn’t the only thing there. There were five people standing in the middle of the room around a portal. He looked at the five people and noticed their eyes were glossed over. Their expressions were blank and their bodies almost in an autopilot position. As he stared at them he recognized what was going on with them. They were under a Charm spell. And from the looks of it, it was a strong spell.

Roman then recognized the portal they were surrounding as the exit portal. This was new to him because he usually found this portal after defeating the final boss. He had never seen one already active while the boss monster was still alive.

However, this portal was weird. Usually the color of the portal was the same shade as the dungeon it was. This dungeon was a black dungeon. Albeit, the black color was fading into a white. Roman wasn’t sure how that was possible. He knew Liam seemed to have some idea, but he was still confused. He then noticed the bright rune like objects floating around the portal.

He decided to activate Mana Sight, an ability he had been working on a lot recently. As soon as his eye sight acclimated to the ability, he noticed something that made his eyes widened. He saw the mana from the runes pouring into the portal.

“Is that how they are doing that?” Roman muttered to himself.

“What?” Artem asked in as quiet of a voice as he could muster. “What do you see?”

Roman was about to reply, but stopped as he witnessed a new rune suddenly start to form. Mana was forming around the faint symbol as it was starting to take shape. He then saw a small portion of the portal slowly snake its way to the new rune forming.

“Liam is going to want to know this,” Roman muttered before looking back at the others. He then said in a normal volume, “Okay here is what is going on…”

“Sh!” Artem and Blair hushed him.

“It’s fine,” Roman waved a hand before stepping out. “They are placed under a very strong Charm spell. Us talking normally won’t catch their attention.”

“There are Charm Spells that powerful?” Artem asked with a mix of curiosity and concern.

Roman shrugged. “Probably, but I feel there is something else mixed with it.”

“What do you mean?” Blair inquired.

“I can see the Charm Mana, but there is also a Hot Pink colored mana mixed with it. I’m not entirely sure what that one is,” Roman explained. He then shook his head before adding, “That’s besides the point. That spell is probably what Liam wants us to stop.”

Artem and Blair stepped out and looked at what he was talking about. They were confused at what it was these five people were doing. They then noticed the runes and the color of the portal slowly changing.

“You can change the color of a Dungeon?” Artem asked as he looked at the other two.

“Apparently,” Roman shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think Liam knows more about it.”

“So all we need to do is stop them?” Blair asked as she took a step forward.

“Yeah, but I’m not sure how we ca…,” Roman started to say until Blair interrupted.

“We can just shake them. they should lose their focus that way right?” Blair said as she slowly approached the closest person. She went to reach a hand out, but before she could touch the person, her hand was suddenly rebuffed as a shock of lightning zapped from the ground up to her finger tips.

“Ow,” Blair complained as she shook her hand to rid the feeling. “What just happened?”

Roman frowned as he looked at the spot the lightning came up from. However, it was Artem stated, “There are traps placed all around them.”

“Seriously?” Blair questioned as she looked all around the floor. Even though she had great eye sight thanks to the heightened sight she received from her Racial benefits, she still couldn’t see them.

She turned to Roman. She had Mana Sight, but out of the three of them Roman was the only one who had it at level ten. Artem was close, but not yet there. Her’s was still at level five.

Roman understood what she was asking of him but shook his head in response. “No. I can’t see where they are placed.” He then looked at Artem with a curious look and asked, “How do you know they’re traps?”

“Just the way it activated,” Artem stated. “After Blair was shocked the mana went back towards the spot it shot out from. Also, I’m still trying to understand how traps work. I got a Knowledge Theory book about them, but I haven’t been able to level it up past two yet.”

Blair and Roman were impressed. They hadn’t realized he was doing that and were shocked they hadn’t thought about it either.

“So what do we do then?” Blair asked.

“I could try and shoot a low leveled Lightning spell. Try to jolt them out of the Charm spell they’re under?” Roman suggested.

“Best idea we have right now,” Blair said. “Go ahead and try it.”

Roman nodded before he started to chant. However, before he could start saying anything, a familiar wave of power washed over them and everything in the room. The three companions looked at each other with confused expressions.

“Was that…,” Artem started.

Roman nodded as Blair replied, “That was Chaos Nature. Did Liam do something that caused that?”

“Not sure, but if it was just a bit more powerful that could have done our job for us,” Roman stated as he looked over at the five people while pointing.

Artem and Blair looked over to see the Runes were flickering. The mana coming off of them and feeding the exit portal was thinning, but still held on tightly as they tried to correct themselves.

“Damn,” Artem stated. “If only it was…”

His words went quiet as a notification suddenly appeared in front of each of them.

[Level 2 Gifts of Chaos has been accepted. Please wait to receive your gifts from your Matron Deity.]  

A second wave of Chaos Nature suddenly washed over them, this one much more powerful than the last. Artem, Blair, and Roman pushed the notification away and swiftly turned their focus on the five men. Each of the men suddenly dropped to their knees as they brought their hands to their heads. The runes that hovered around the edge of the exit portal exploded as the white color faded and dyed back to black.

As the color returned to normal another wave of power shot out from the portal. This power shot out in an unexpected way, knocking everyone backwards. Artem, Blair, and Roman were shot backwards against the wall as the five men started to fly backwards as well. However, as their bodies flew over the areas where the traps were hiding, elemental powers erupted.

A flame trapped emerged as a powerful wave of fire engulfed one of the men, burning him to a crisp. The lightning trap encased the person that went over it, holding him in place as current after current coursed throughout his body. Another froze over completely as ice covered him. Another suddenly dropped to the ground as a powerful force of gravity crushed them into the ground. The last person was skewered as thin rows of earthen spike shot up and pierced their body.

Artem, Blair, and Roman didn’t see any of this as they crashed into the wall hard. Their collision in the wall knocked the wind out of their bodies. They fought not to black out after the crash. They slowly took out a potion and drank it to replenish their health.

After they finished fighting the bile of the disgusting flavor of potion, Artem asked, “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know,” Blair responded as she turned her focus on the area where the people were once standing. Her eyes widened at the dead bodies. “Oh shit.”

Artem and Roman looked at what she was staring at. Their jaws dropped as their eyes widened.

“Damn it,” Artem swore as he clenched his fists. He felt Roman place a hand on his arm He looked down at the man and noticed the hard look in his face. He understood that he was as angry as he was at the sight.

“Take a look around to make sure there is nothing else around here that we might need to do,” Blair stated. Artem was about to make a statement, but stopped as Blair continued, “After that, let’s join Liam in killing those fucks for setting up something like this.”

 

---

 

Down below inside the room the giant opening on the ground floor. A few Beast-kins stood around staring at the massive half-spider half-humanish creature that laid before them. The massive creature struggled against the spells used on her to make her feel sluggish and weak beyond explanation.

The only time she ever felt energy rush through her was when she was about to give birth to fresh Toxo spiders. She couldn’t understand why it was the only time, but each time she felt her energy start to come back she would try and fight against the effects of the spells placed on her only to have the effects increase. After the effects increased she would feel the energy get zapped and then watch as her freshly born Toxos get slain right in front of her.

She didn’t know how long this had been going on for, but there was one thing she did know. She was angry. Even through the sluggish and tiring magic placed on her, her anger swam deep. The moment she was able to, she was going to devour each and every one of these killers.

She didn’t know when that was going to happen, but when it did she would make them suffer. She felt a surge of energy start to fill her as the familiar cycle arrived. She let out a scream as five Toxo spiders were born. She readied herself for that feeling she was getting accustomed to, but before it came something else washed over her body.

It was a sudden wave of power. Power that she had lost as these creatures worked some sort of magic. Not knowing exactly what was going on, she quickly slumped down, acting like she was exhausted.

This made the Beast-kin who usually casted the spell give pause. He stared at her for a long moment. She gave him a weak scowl as she stared at him. Her gaze then shifted towards her babies. The man noticed where she looked and grinned wickedly.

“Oi Dareth,” the Beast-kin shouted.

“What?” Dareth stated as he grabbed one of the spider babies.

“Bring one of those freaky creatures over here will ya,” the man ordered.

“What for?” Dareth asked as he grabbed the disgusting looking spider, making sure it couldn’t bite him. It let out an extremely high pitch screech as the man picked it up. “You know Calythtis is going to be pissed if we don’t kill these fast enough.”

“A few seconds isn’t going to harm the plan now bring it over here,” the man ordered again.

“Fine,” Dareth said as he made his way over. “What do you want with it?”

“Kill it right in front of her,” the man said.

Dareth gave him a confused look. “You’re not serious are you?”

“Very,” the man answered. “Now do it.”

“You’re one fucked up demon man,” Dareth responded as he placed the small creature right in front of the Toxo Brood Mother Queen.

The small Toxo spider squirmed as hard as it could, trying to get away. It failed at every attempt. Dareth brought his weapon up in the air. He aimed for the small creature and went to attack. However, before he could move his arm down, the Toxo Brood Mother Queen quickly pushed herself up and leaned forward enough to bite the top half of Dareth’s body.

The other people inside the room stopped what they were doing as their focus fell upon what had happened. Shock, confusion, and fear filled them as they stared at the creature as she rose to her full height. Without wasting any more time, she took in a deep breath and let out a loud painful screech.

 

---

 

In a room on the second floor, the spiderwebs, stone walls and floor shook as the power from the portal washed over. Nothing happened after that. Minutes later a screech filled the room, stirring creatures that were asleep.

The stone coffin sitting in the middle of the room suddenly started to shake. The lid vibrated as the coffin shook. As the coffin shook and the lid vibrated, the lid started to move slowly and slightly.

After the lid moved just enough, angry screeches and chittering escaped the small hole. A long sharp spider leg poked out just enough to be able to move the lid back enough for it to slid right off of the coffin. Several smaller eight legged creatures flooded out in a wave, hungry and angry.