Chapter 36: Insight and Inspiration, Part 1

The dungeon's interior was a massive crypt with a vaulted ceiling supported by dozens of stone columns stained in the same blackened goo as the mausoleum above. The worn and torn tapestries draped over the walls were embroidered with depictions of corrupt-politician-level cruelty like a line of soldiers firing their guns at a crowd of protesters or people getting dragged kicking and screaming from their homes by faceless authority figures.

Staring at them sent a cold shiver snaking up my spine that had nothing to do with the chilly atmosphere permeating the crypt. I managed to keep this feeling to myself though while Morph was less subtle in his quivering.

"You should stop looking at the walls if you want to keep your nerve, Morph," Dess whispered.

She was floating right behind me with Morph at her side and the other members of our team not far behind.

"We've yet to enter the actual dungeon, and the tank's already shaking in his boots," Lohgan commented as he passed Morph by. "Shocker..."

"W-who's shaking in their boots?" Morph countered weakly.

He'd sent that jab at Morph but I felt like I, the dungeon virgin, had also been struck by Lohgan's taunt.

"What a tool," I whispered.

It would be so easy to whack Lohgan in the back of the head and then watch him tumble down the steps to end up as a messy heap of bruised joints and ego. But, as tempting as that thought was, I didn't want to handicap my team right from the start.

Discreetly, I did my best to follow Dess's sound advice as we walked onward, but I would sometimes catch glimpses of the fluttering tapestries on the walls and immediately regretted it. Their depressing themes brought out a kind of unease in me that I hadn't felt in a while. Not since my first gruesome end as a sacrifice on a death cult's altar.

Still, we arrived with our spirits mostly intact at the other end of the crypt where the rest of the raid group stood waiting by two giant, intricately carved stone doors. Ominous magical energy leaked out of these doors, one that set my teeth on edge as I drew closer.

"Remind me, there are tiers to dungeons, right?" I asked.

"That's right," Dess answered.

She pulled out her status bar and pointed its rear camera lens at the two doors. Yeah, her newer model bar had these interesting extra features my old hand-me-down didn't possess.

"My 'Eagle Eye' app has an energy reader feature that can analyze the levels of corrupted magical energy saturating an enclosed space and it's a quick way to tell how much danger we're likely to get into," she explained in her usual hyper-speed style. "Which isn't much in this case. See?"

[[LOCATION: Lugh's Lament] [TYPE: Dungeon] [TIER: Low]] appeared on her status bar's screen.

"Um, low-tier dungeons don't produce enough energy to fuel the growth of monsters so, um, they're usually weak enough for an apprentice class like ours to deal with," Scaredy Cat chimed in.

"The magic was weak from the beginning because we're on your polluted Earth," Lohgan added. "Destroying the thing that gives you life… humans are pathetic."

That last part kind of made me want to hit him again, but I didn't because I agreed with him. What humans have done to our realm in the name of progress was deplorable.

"Humans have altered and abused the Earth so much that the nature which provides succor to all living things can barely release enough magic in the air for the realm to cultivate its mages suitably," Dess explained further.

Well, I knew that much. It's why Divah secluded me in the Catskill Mountains for most of my training. Being close to the roots of nature was the only way I could learn the magic she had to teach me while we stayed on Earth.

"Your magic is strong," Brunhilde said.

It was as if she were assuring me that they didn't judge me for being human. Well, most of them did. I could almost sense Lohgan sneering at my back.

"Um, Earth's situation isn't all bad," Scaredy Cat assured us. "We have magicites now to make up for the lack of natural magic in our realm."

"Which you humans extort and steal from the rest of the realmsverse," Lohgan replied scathingly.

"W-we don't," Scaredy Cat protested. "Well, um, not all of us… It's just the magic corporations that are too greedy."

I just loved how my fellow apprentices were becoming these important sources of realmsverse knowledge and intrigue that Divah had conveniently left out in her guide, which I guessed was my master's way of teaching me to gather intel on my own from time to time.

"All right, let's skip the human bashing and get back to the original topic." Seriously, I'd already heard all the reasons why humans were the scum of the realmsverse. I don't refute any of it either. "You were saying something about dungeon energy fueling monster growth… how does that translate to a tier's strength?"

"The more corrupted magical energy a dungeon contains, the more powerful the monsters inside it. Tiers go up from low, mid, high, elite, and"—Dess's face scrunched up in concentration—"what was that last one again?"

"Legendary," Morph supplied in his raspy, whispering voice.

"Um, we don't have to worry about the 'Legendary Wonders' right now… there are only nine of those throughout the realmsverse," Scaredy Cat added.

Only nine—that was interesting. Because, from what Divah wrote in the guide, the realmsverse had twelve wonders. That meant three of these legendary dungeons were known only to Divah and me, and maybe a very small group of high-ranking adventurers too.

A resounding boom reached our ears after Mistress Lorelai slammed the butt of her spear against the doors to catch everyone's attention. Then, with our gazes facing forward, our dökkálfar instructor—who wore very little fabric underneath her breastplate and leather shorts, leaving very little to the imagination—finally began sharing the quest's details with her raid group.

"It's not usually my style to give speeches, but I want you all to know the gravity of why we've come to this dark place." Her tone was both serious and soft, which was quite unlike how she'd sounded when I met her. It was as if emotion were already swelling up inside Mistress Lorelai when she began to tell us a story. "We're here today because a human girl named Aine has sent us on this quest!"

As she explained Aine's situation to us, I began to feel a queasiness in my stomach because I was reminded of my own grueling dose of childhood trauma.

"Aine is being physically and mentally abused by a man who should be protecting her... her father," Mistress Lorelai shared.