“You aren’t an ordinary wraith.” Serenity couldn’t be entirely certain what it was without his Death senses, but no ordinary wraith could have sent him into memory after memory - or perhaps nightmare after nightmare? In each one, he’d been Serenity, not Vengeance or the Final Reaper. The nightmare wasn’t the memory but the thought that he might do this. Again.
The other two moved to attack, but their spells went through the wraith with no effect. It simply floated there.
“You want to talk.” There was no other reason for the wraith to simply float there. It could throw them back into a memory - or perhaps a fear? Sometimes those were hard to tell apart for him. It could have done something to hurt them while they were trapped.
Yet it hadn’t.
“Yes.” The wraith’s voice sounded hollow and thin. “You have made us curious. The other two are normal, Death of a loved one horrifies and terrifies. Yet that is not your fear. I know you, now. I know you have walked through Death into life time and again and always found Death waiting for you. You know Death well. Yet you do not fear Death.”
“Death is nothing to fear for the one who dies. It is the loss of those who are left behind that is to be feared.” Serenity had been the one left behind many times, and that was what he’d always remembered. Vengeance and the Final Reaper had turned that grief into anger.
The wraith was correct, though. It wasn’t the death itself that terrified Serenity, but what he himself was capable of doing afterwards.
Serenity wanted to find a different path. He wouldn’t be able to prevent loss; that was a part of life. Perhaps he could prevent the same losses and make them smaller and later; that might help. He knew he needed to do more than that, though, if he wanted to be someone other than Vengeance.
He’d already started with Entherys and Margrethe. They’d both paid for what they’d done, but not with their lives. Even Macho had only landed in the hospital twice, instead of the morgue - though Serenity couldn’t really give himself credit for that.
The wraith floated through another pair of spells, then seemed to realize Serenity didn’t have anything more to say.
“I remember. Loss. Death.” The wraith dissipated, and so did the world around Serenity. He stood in a large but empty stone room and watched a panel set in the wall silently slide out of the way.
They’d somehow reached the end of the dungeon level.
The three of them entered the room and pulled out their bedrolls in unison. They were all exhausted; they’d deal with everything else when they woke.
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The first thing Serenity did when he woke up was to shift into his Chimera form. His dragonling form simply wasn’t comfortable right now; somehow, the spread of the Heart’s energy was more tolerable in his Chimera form.
The second thing was to check how far the energy had made it. It was farther than he’d expected; his entire midsection was converted, and it was starting on his arms and legs. So far, it seemed to be staying away from his neck, at least.
The time lost in nightmares must have been longer than he’d realized. He’d known it was far longer than it should have taken to walk across the room, but this indicated it was longer yet.
As he was putting on his armor, Raz stirred. Katya was still asleep, so they tried to let her sleep. Unfortunately, neither of them had the equipment for a good fire, so Serenity handed Raz some of the jerky he still had left. He was out after this morning, but at least none of it had gone to waste.
They sat there silently for a while before Raz turned on his bedroll to face Serenity. “So … what was that? That wasn’t a normal dungeon floor. I’ve never heard of anything like that. And it let us go?”
Serenity saw Katya stir and turn to look at Raz. It seemed she wasn’t really asleep anymore.
Serenity ate his last bite of jerky before he replied. “The wraith? It was a Dungeon Guardian. Probably the true Dungeon Boss, as well. We’re fortunate it was sane, an insane strong Guardian Boss is nothing to underestimate, and ones that test Mind Resistance are worse than most. I’m surprised this isn’t the last level after seeing that. Guardians usually are.”
Katya chuckled and lifted herself onto her hands and knees, still inside her bedding. “Not on Tzintkra. This is probably the last level the dungeon was able to design. Catacomb levels are accessed from dungeons but all follow similar plans. No one’s sure why, but it’s common all over - if you get deep enough, you end up in Catacomb levels. Some people think they’re all one Great Dungeon, but if they were, why are the individual Dungeons’ cores on the Catacomb levels?”
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Serenity shrugged. If she didn’t know, how was he supposed to?
”I bet you’re right. I bet that was a Dungeon Guardian. Which means this dungeon is going to be worth a lot less than expected unless that book turns out to have something really interesting in it. Guardians are unpredictable. Why haven’t you two at least started a fire?” Katya climbed out of her bed. She was still dressed in her armor from the night before. “Oh of course, I didn’t get any firewood out.”
After breakfast, Serenity picked up the dungeon level crystal to the same message as the previous two levels.
[Ancient Temple Level 3 Complete]
[500 XP Awarded]
[1650 Ev Awarded]
Serenity still wasn’t level 25. He debated changing his XP allocation, but for now he left it alone. If the next level was indeed a Catacomb level, he’d change it then.
He felt the curious mana gather around him, but it didn’t speak until he was about to put the crystal in his pack.
Come
Serenity nodded in response. He assumed the dungeon saw it, because the mana pulled away from him.
As Serenity was putting his backpack on, he looked back at the pedestal. “Katya? Is this what I think this is?”
A key that appeared to be made of bone sat on the pedestal where the level crystal had been. Serenity would have sworn it wasn’t there before.
Katya examined it. “If you think it’s a Catacomb Key, you’re correct. Mine, I think, since we used mine to get in.”
Serenity nodded again. “Seems reasonable.”
When they first entered the Catacomb level, there were shelves three or four high on each side, filled with bodies. They had to handle all of them when they rose - usually as skeletons or mummies, but occasional zombies, ghouls, and draugr also happened. They were all incredibly weak. Serenity almost felt bad killing them and had to remind himself that these were just dungeon creations, not real people.
After they made it down that corridor, they turned a corner only to see more of the same, with occasional branching passageways, all of which also seemed to be filled with bones and bodies. It truly was a catacomb.
Some of the bones didn’t rise, but if the body was intact enough, they could be certain it would attack. As they continued on, Serenity became convinced that the problem wasn’t really the undead; they were all weak and they stayed weak. Instead, it was the catacomb level itself. It was a giant maze, and it was clearly intended to wear down anyone who tried to travel through it. “Are Catacomb levels usually like this?”
Serenity didn’t remember them being this long, but when Vengeance had gone to Tzintkra, he hadn’t been under time pressure and he’d been noticeably higher Tier. The lack of time pressure alone would explain why he didn’t remember.
Katya’s voice sounded a little short of breath. “Sometimes. We call levels like this infinite mazes even though they aren’t actually infinite. They’re just there to wear you out so you’re not at your best when you get to the monster at the end. How are you managing to keep going?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve done infinite maze levels before. I’m going to have to call for a rest soon, and I’m never the first. That’s always the frontline. How much stamina do you have ?” Katya sounded somewhere between irritated and amazed.
“Oh. If you need a rest, please say so. I won’t.” Serenity stopped and turned to look at the other two. There were no monsters particularly close, so it was safe. They both looked out of breath. “I don’t use stamina to move. I know most people do, but-” Serenity shrugged. “It uses some of my healing instead. The drain’s low enough that as long as I eat periodically, I can keep fighting like this all day.” Serenity looked around. There didn’t seem to be a good spot to stop, so Serenity turned around and started moving forward again.
“Uses some of your healing?” Katya sounded confused.
Serenity stopped short. Katya bounced off his back. “Did I never mention it?” He thought back. He couldn’t think of any time he had. He wasn’t even sure if he’d told Raz or not - though Raz ought to be able to guess. “I can heal myself, but only myself. It doesn’t use stamina or mana, I just have to eat more. It’s not something I really think about, anymore.”
What he did need to think about was the skeleton in front of him.
No, not anymore. It was now an ex-skeleton.
Serenity shook himself and continued on. He didn’t have time to see what she thought about his healing; he needed to find a decent spot for the others to rest for a bit. While he could guard the entrance, he’d prefer to be able to rest as well. She’d probably assume-
“That sounds really useful. Is that why you went for melee?”
Katya had definitely assumed it was a normal ability. He could relax. “One of the reasons. I also know how to fight. Long term, magic’s the better option for me, but for now I’m a hybrid. I probably will be for a long time.”
There was a short corridor off to the left, just a few paces long before it dead-ended, making a nice alcove. It resembled a number of the burial places he'd seen throughout the maze, but the stacked set of burial shelves wasn’t there. It would be as good a place to rest as any he’d seen in the maze. He ushered the other two in and stopped between them and the exit. If they were lucky, there wouldn’t be any monsters during the rest break. If they were low enough on stamina to be short on breath, it might take a while for them to recover.
Serenity turned to Katya. “Do you have any food I can eat?” At her puzzled look, Serenity laughed. “I wasn’t joking about eating. I eat a lot. You’ve probably noticed.”
Katya did laugh at that. “That explains why you were willing to get extra servings of Zan’s food!”
Serenity grinned. “Yeah. I usually carry snacks, but I’m afraid I had the last of it for breakfast.”
Katya tossed him a cloth bag filled with a mix of nuts, dried fruit, and bits of jerky.
“Thanks!”
Serenity sat and ate while the other two rested.