They started the next morning by finishing the Manticore stew that June had cooked. With their hunger sated, Quin led him back to her village, where they discovered the aftermath of the zombie attack.
The village was a quaint little settlement situated just outside the edge of the forest, which comprised medieval-style buildings constructed with stone walls and thatched roofs. Most of them still stood, but a few had burnt down with only a wall or two remaining, as evidenced by the embers and slow plumes of white smoke.
A door creaked as the wind blew past, bringing with it the scent of rain. Looking up, the heavy gray clouds threatened to release their payload at any moment. And June's predictions came true when the first drop of rain pattered onto his cheek.
"We should go. There's nothing left here," June said to Quin.
June turned to her when she didn't respond and found her staring at a building that still stood with its door wide open. It sat near the outskirts of the village, closer to them, and was probably the reason they could escape.
"Is that your home?" June asked.
She finally tore her eyes from the building and looked at him. She struggled to hold back her tears as she nodded in confirmation.
"Did you want to check it out?" June asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
She hesitated for a moment before responding. "Yes, mister."
June chuckled as he led her to the building. "Just June is fine. No need for formalities."
The village stood silent, eerily so. There was not a single zombie in sight as they approached, and nothing came out from the buildings as they passed by. Arriving at Quin's home, June entered first just to be safe.
The home was small and cozy. A hearth sat in the center, where they probably did most of their cooking. Several dried herbs hung from a rack just beside the hearth. Multiple overturned grass-woven baskets lined the left wall, while a wooden divider lay strewn across the floor to the right. Beyond it were two cots, a queen-sized one likely for her parents, and a twin for her.
Quin followed closely behind June. After he gave the all-clear, she hurried past him to her bed and reached underneath, pulling out a small chest. Opening it, she took out a crude doll and cradled it to her chest. Then, she grabbed a piece of parchment and stared at it. June walked up behind her and saw that the parchment had a painting of her and her parents. Water splattered onto the paper as her tears flowed freely.
June knelt beside her and patted her head. "That's beautiful. You all looked so happy."
He didn't know if what he said comforted her, but he tried nonetheless. She turned and leaned into him, and he wrapped her in a warm hug, rubbing her back as she cried into his chest. She had done her best to remain composed all morning, but returning to her home had shattered that composure.
They stayed like that until she had cried her heart out. Standing, June pulled her to her feet and told her to gather any of her belongings she wanted to keep. There wasn't much she grabbed besides what was already in the chest and a few dresses. He stored them all in the chest before placing it in his dimensional space. Her eyes widened in panic when the chest disappeared.
"Don't worry," June said before pulling the chest out, "I just stored it away for safekeeping."
Seeing the chest and hearing his words, her panic eased, and June stored it away again. They left her house and were heading out of the village when a sudden surge in his senses warned him of danger. He grabbed Quin, pulled her close, and erected an Essence barrier just as bone spikes shot at them from a nearby house. The spikes slammed into his barrier and penetrated a few inches through, but no further.
June turned as a person walked out of the building, where the spikes emerged. It was bone thin—there was probably not an ounce of muscle on it—and pale as a ghost with glowing red eyes and wispy white strands for hair.
What is that, Sarah?
It's a Draugr, a type of undead.
June summoned a ball of fire and shot it at the Draugr.
Is it the Dungeon Boss?
No, a Dungeon Boss will never leave its domain unless a Dungeon Break occurs.
A bone wall erupted from the ground and shielded the Draugr from his fireball, which erupted in a fiery explosion on impact. Grunting, June leapt to the side with Quin in his arms, avoiding another barrage of bone spikes that shattered his barrier. On its flank now, June fired off another three fireballs, which were smaller but more concentrated in power. The same bone wall shifted to block the attacks, but that was a mistake as the first explosion cracked it, the second shattered it, and the third flew straight into the Draugr, exploding and sending it flying back several dozen yards away.
The Draugr struggled to its feet, but June didn't give it any chance to attack or flee. Flames encircled the Draugr, forming a vortex that consumed it. The screeching wail it released as it died sent shivers down his spine. Nothing but ashes remained after his spell ended. June collected the Soul Crystal, and they left the area promptly.
For the next couple of days, June spent his time clearing out as much of the zombie horde as he could. On the second day, they came across a giant stone tower that jutted out from the forest like a sore thumb. According to Quin, it was where the necromancer Vish-rel Granwoad lived, whom June surmised to be the Boss. That was their eventual destination, but first, June needed to get as strong as possible before then.
Throughout this time, he and Quin had become better acquainted. She lived in her quiet little village with her parents. Her mother was a leatherworker, and her father a hunter. He would bring home the food and materials that her mother used to make a variety of things, ranging from belts to boots, to trade with either their neighbors or the roving merchant caravans. Quin mainly remained with her mother, helping with tanning and running errands. Together, they were a pretty good unit and did well for themselves.
However, she knew very little about the outside world beyond her quiet village or about the reality of the Dungeon. What was strange, though, was that she knew about Dungeons and the System but didn't realize she was inside one—a part of one. The System limited that knowledge and revealed it only during a Dungeon Break.
So June refrained from mentioning that this was a Dungeon or the Repository. It may be too much for her to understand at the moment. June, however, had said very little to explain who he was, other than that he was a warrior from a distant land just trying to go home.
After seven days, June had cleared the forest of zombies, and they headed toward Vish-rel's lair. The fight itself wasn't anything special. After discovering that the Boss was at the top of the tower, all June needed to do to defeat him was bring the whole structure down with multiple Essence blasts. He didn't want to deal with any hidden traps or minions inside the tower. Besides, the Boss might have been a powerful necromancer, but that's all. He wasn't a threat without his army.
After the Boss's death, June didn't waste any time sifting through the debris and hurried to the edge of the Dungeon, back to the Manticore Dungeon. He needed to get Quin out of the Dungeon before it reset.
___________________________________________________________________________
The world around Quin blurred as June carried her through the forest in his arms. The wind rushing past drowned out all sounds as she clutched onto his arm tightly. She could never get used to traveling like this, even though this wasn't her first time.
At first, she thought him to be a powerful sorcerer, but she was mistaken. He was also a formidable warrior, a legendary Paladin, a warrior mage blessed by the System to defend the world from evils such as Vish-rel the necromancer, as her father used to tell her at bedtime. She believed her father's stories when she was younger, but as she grew older and experienced more of the real world, those stories became just that—stories. But now, maybe his stories were more than that.
It didn't take them long to reach their destination, but Quin frowned when they stood before a cliff face. She craned her neck and followed the sheer wall all the way to the top. It had to be about 100 yards to the summit. Were they going to climb it? Not fully understanding why they were there, she turned to June. He wasn't looking up at the top. Instead, he stared straight ahead at the rock wall as if he thought he might see through it if he focused enough.
"What are we doing here, June?" Quin asked when he set her down.
It still felt strange to address him just by his first name. Her parents raised her to be polite and call everyone "Missus" or "Mister." However, June refused such treatment, and she couldn't wrap her head around why. Usually, adults found her formality charming.
Her heart raced a little faster when June's concerned look landed on her. "What do you see?"
"It's just a cliff face," she said, reaching out and touching the jagged stone slab.
However, she frowned when she realized the texture of the stone didn't match what she felt. The stone slab had many grooves and crevices along its surface that should have given it a rough feel when she ran her hand over it. Instead, it was as smooth as a pebble she'd find by the riverbank. She then tried to grab a handful of dirt, but couldn't. Her hand only brushed against a smooth surface again. The dirt wasn't actually there.
A shiver ran down her spine as she jerked her hand away from the wall and faced June. There was dark magic at work here, as the wall radiated an oppressive aura. She needed to get away as quickly as possible. A deep dread inside her told her to leave and never return. Her presence was unwelcome here.
However, June's contemplative look left her stumped as he stared at the wall with a tilt of his head. How could he have that look on his face? Didn't he feel that sense of foreboding and doom?
"So, it's just a cliff face to you?" June asked, and all she could do was nod, unable to find her voice as the malicious aura washed over her. Not seeing her response, he turned to her.
His curiosity quickly shifted to concern as he knelt beside her. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
She could only shake her head as her body trembled and sweat broke out across her body. The aura constricted her like a Traverian Constrictor wrapping its long, scaly body around her and squeezing tight.
"Must be the System," June muttered, but Quin didn't have the mind to pay any attention to his words.
Her breathing shallow and light, darkness threatened to overwhelm her as she fought to remain conscious. Even if she wanted to escape now, she couldn't. The evil in this place prevented it.
Suddenly, a warm sensation, like a hug, enveloped her, pushing the evil presence away and shielding her from it. She gasped for air as her tears streamed down her face. Falling into June's arms, she cried as a torrent of emotions overwhelmed her. He stroked her back, allowing her to cry into his chest as he reassured her that everything was okay.
After releasing her emotions, she stepped back and looked between the cliff face and June. How was he unaffected? Then she had a realization. Had he somehow protected her from the wall? The feeling that shielded her had felt very much like him. He was the rock that kept her steady, the shield that kept her safe from harm.
She stared in amazement as June rose to his feet and extended a hand to her, a confident smile on his face, assuring her she was safe. Returning his smile, she grasped his hand as he stepped forward. She hesitated for just a moment before also stepping forward, trusting him with her life.
Standing before the wall, June brought their hands forward, and to her utter shock, they passed straight through it. The once solid barrier was now viscous, like water, yet her hand remained dry on the other side. With her mouth open, she looked to June, who gave her a reassuring smile and told her to keep going. She did, and he followed right behind. The moment she passed through, she felt something inside her snap, and the world around her became a little clearer.
Before she knew it, she was in a completely different world. The first thing that struck her was the heat. It was intense, much worse than during planting and harvest seasons back home. A vast forest with strange-looking trees surrounded her. Turning around, she saw the familiar forest she had lived in her whole life.
"What? What is this?" Quin asked as she reached back with a hand toward where they had come from, but found an invisible barrier blocking her path. "Where are we?"
"We're in another Dungeon," June said, turning to face where they had just come from. "That is the Dungeon you lived in, and this is the Dungeon I was trapped in."
She whirled to face him, her eyes wide. "What!?"
June sighed and picked her up. "I'll explain when we're somewhere safe."
The world whooshed by as Quin held tightly onto June. Just what did he mean by Dungeon?
___________________________________________________________________________
Ever since they had arrived at the barrier, Quin had been acting strangely. It was as if she didn't want to be there. June believed that the System's influence over her had drastically increased upon arrival, and her strange behaviour lent credence to his theory. To counteract this, he enveloped her in his Aura.
Over the years, he learned his Aura wasn't just an attack but also a shield against other Aura attacks. So he surmised that since it was the System's will, a.k.a. Aura, affecting her, all he needed to do was fight the System with his own Aura. He didn't know if his plan would work, but a sense of relief filled him when it did. Now that it looked like he had severed the System's chains binding her to the Dungeon, he had partially fulfilled his vow to save her. All that remained was to get her out of the Repository.
After avoiding every Manticore along the way, June and Quin made it back to the cabin. She marveled at the grand two-story building with its large glass windows. It was probably the first time she had ever seen a building like this.
Stepping inside, she couldn't keep her mouth closed as she stared wide-eyed at everything. June led her over to the dinner table and sat her down in a chair. June went over to the kitchen and prepared a quick meal of Manticore steak on the firewood stove as Quin watched in fascination.
As they ate, June explained everything to her about him, the System, the Dungeons, and the Repository. He laid everything out in the open for her, hoping it would explain what was going on. But it looked like what he feared came to pass as the more he spoke, the less she ate, and by the end, she was nearly catatonic.
"Quin?" June asked, trying to pull her from her stupor.
He placed a hand on her arm, but she recoiled at his touch, spilling her uneaten food. His heart sank at her reaction, but he understood why she might feel revulsion toward him. He had just shattered her entire world.
June bent low and cleaned up the spilled food before preparing another for her.
"Here," June said, placing the cooked meal before her. "I know it's a lot to take in, but you still need to eat. I'll give you some space to process. If you need anything, I'll be right outside."
The storm door swung closed behind him as he stood on the porch, once again in this godforsaken Dungeon.
You know, you really shouldn't have left her to deal with this alone.
June sighed when he heard Sarah's voice. He knew where she was coming from and understood her perspective as well. It's just that he held a different perspective on parenting.
She needs space and time to process the world-shattering information I just shared with her. She's her own person and has the right to decide how she wants to handle this.
But then a thought struck him.
She's free now, right?
Sarah remained silent for a moment before answering.
Considering she crossed between Dungeons, I'd say yes.
June exhaled a breath of relief. Thanking God that everything had worked out. Just then, the storm door behind him swung open. June turned to find Quin standing there, a little dazed but with a radiant smile on her face. She ran up to him and hugged him, something he wasn't ready for but readily accepted.
"Thank you. Thank you for not leaving me," Quin murmured between sobs.
"Of course, I promise you I'll get you out of here even if it's the last thing I do."
She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face, yet hope glimmered in her eyes. "Really? You promise?"
"I promise," June said, patting her head. "Now come on." June led her back inside. "Finish your dinner, and I'll show you the place. You're going to love it!"
For the next ten years, they remained in the Manticore Dungeon. June spent the first three years killing the Dungeon Boss daily. He figured that by placing the Dungeon in a constant state of reset, the System wouldn't pull the Dungeon from the Repository and place it on a world. This way, he could remain in the Repository until he could grow strong enough to move to the War Dungeon.
Besides, for those three years, Quin wasn't able to Cultivate because she was still too young. That wasn't to say that she did nothing during those three years. June trained her every day, mind, body, and soul, preparing her for her eventual awakening.
She was a quick study and had a fascination with magic ever since her first meeting with June. So after turning sixteen, she gained access to the System and chose the path of Essence Cultivation before immediately joining June in hunting Manticores. The first Essence she unlocked was her Life Essence. She never wanted to feel as useless and helpless as she did when her parents died in the zombie attack.
He fast-tracked her, giving her all the Soul Crystals to Cultivate, so she'd catch up to him as quickly as possible, and within five years, she ascended into the Awakened Realm. They spent another two years in the Manticore Dungeon, refining her control over her second Essence, Death. Ever since he told her they could bring someone back from the dead with certain Essences and caveats, it has been her sole focus to achieve this. No one else was going to die on her watch ever again.
Over the course of those ten years, their bond had grown. June became a father figure for Quin, and she became his daughter. There was an incident that occurred when she reached adulthood. One he should have seen coming, but didn't.
It was just a typical day. They were out hunting Manticores. Quin was mainly doing all the fighting, learning to fend for herself with June's oversight. However, during an encounter with the Boss, she misstepped and tripped, falling flat on her face. That wasn't too unusual, but what happened after triggered something in June.
In a fit of panic, she called out to June. Her fear-laced voice triggered a memory. One that he had buried, never to revisit. The image of Quin as an adult surrounded by corrupted Dweller monsters resurfaced. June staggered to his knees, the vision the Dweller showed him on repeat in his mind.
June knew he had recognized Quin when he first met her, but his mind refused to connect the dots. Because if he did, that meant that there was a highly likely chance that the other visions he saw would come to pass as well. And that, he cannot abide by.
Rage replaced his initial shock at that revelation. What he had seen was something yet to happen, and only happened because he wasn't there. Because he remained trapped here, in the Dungeon Repository.
Rising to his feet, June obliterated the Boss with a single blast of Fire Essence. He helped Quin to her feet and reassured her he would always be there for her, or that he'd do everything within his power to prepare her. He wasn't about to let fate, the System, or the Dwellers decide his or his loved ones' lives.
They never returned to Quin's Dungeon and instead crossed over into the Arctic Dungeon. Here, the resident monster was a yeti-like creature with four arms and a terrible temper. Living there was pretty simple, actually. The Yetis were quite dull and easily provoked into infighting. Meanwhile, the cold wasn't an issue because of June's Fire Essence. His own body was immune to the freezing temperatures, and as long as Quin stayed near, his Aura would shield her as well.
They spent fifty years there because it took longer to cultivate from the Awakened Realm to the Sovereign Realm, and they were now gathering Soul Crystals for both of them. Just like that, sixty-four years passed, and June was counting every day. Only 319 years remained until the first Dungeon Break, and all hell broke loose on Earth. He needed to get stronger to enter the War Dungeon. His family depended on him; he couldn't let them down.
The Trial of Truth was slightly more challenging than the Trial of Fear. It forced him to confront the truth about his flaws and failures in life and to accept them as part of who he was. He knew his core self. Most of his flaws and failures he had already worked through with Natalie, so accepting that part of himself wasn't too difficult. It was only the failure revealed in the visions that he struggled to accept.
Yet, he ultimately accepted them. He acknowledged his failings in the vision. But they had yet to come to pass, so he could still change their fates.
Since Quin had taken the path of a healer, June found it redundant to also go down that path. So, for his next Essence, he chose Kinetic Essence. The main reason he chose Kinetic Essence was that he was a huge Star Wars fan, and Kinetic Essence was essentially telekinesis. Now he was one with the Force!
From here, they moved from Dungeon to Dungeon, never spending more than a few hours hunting the local monsters before killing the Boss and moving on. Time was their greatest enemy, June's greatest enemy, but they lucked out. In just 300 years, they had ascended to the Transcendent Realm. With only nineteen years remaining, they entered the War Dungeon and never once killed the Boss, hoping that the System would place it on Earth.
But the years ticked on by as nothing happened, and before he knew it, those nineteen years came and went. June nearly had a mental break, struggling with the reality that he wasn't able to return. If not for Quin, he may have done something rash and gotten himself killed.
Time passed by without a care in the world as June grew numb to the pain. He took his anger and frustration out on the Dungeon and the Demons, slaughtering them by the droves. The days blended, and before he knew it, centuries had passed. He had stopped counting, stopped caring. All he knew was carnage and slaughter, and the entire time, Quin stood by him, watching over him.
When he finally came out of his drunken rage, no amount of words he could have expressed would have conveyed his shame and gratitude to Quin for remaining with him the whole time. But to her, it was expected. He had been there for her when she needed someone the most, and now she was repaying the debt. Besides, he was more or less her father by now, so the thought of leaving him never crossed her mind.
And so, millenniums passed as they remained in the War Dungeon, waiting for the day the Dungeon Gates would open. In that time, they both ascended to the Divine Realm, gaining their True Soul and unlocking all of their Essence Cores. Even after reaching the Divine Realm, they continued to cull the Demon army and Cultivate because there was nothing else to do.
Things went on like this until 150,000 years later. It was just another day of hunting and Cultivating when a loud clap of thunder resounded in the direction of the Dungeon Gate. In a fraction of a second, June had teleported before the Gate and found the distinct blue portal there. Quin arrived a second later, and the sight amazed her. It was her first time witnessing the Gate come to life.
Without any hesitation, June teleported to the Boss, killed it, and returned to the Gate. Steadying his breath, June readied himself to step through, hopefully to Earth. Quin grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight, reassuring him that everything was going to be alright, and gave him a radiant smile. June chuckled to himself. He was supposed to be the one there for her, yet the roles had reversed. Squeezing her hand back, June returned her smile before they stepped through to freedom.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sasha startled awake as the sirens blared to life. Beside her, a naked Kia rolled off the tiny cot they shared and rose into a combat-ready stance. That had become a common occurrence now in their current reality.
"Shit," Kia said, fully waking. "They've found us."
"Yup," Sasha said, throwing aside the blankets.
She ignored the cold air, still damp from their lovemaking, that slammed into her, causing goosebumps to form all across her naked body. They both rushed to put on their clothes in the cramped room they shared, as the flashing light of the siren bathed them in a grim red tone. Of course, it had to be now. Of all the days, the monsters just had to find them on a night when they lowered their guards and enjoyed themselves.
After fully dressing and equipping their armor and weapons, Kia pulled the door to their room open, and the cacophony outside finally reached them. The siren was even louder out in the cramped hallway as people streamed down it, rushing toward the teleporter. Their panic and fear were palpable as mothers clutched their children close. Sasha tried to regain control of the situation, but the crowd's screams drowned out her voice.
However, a loud, booming voice rose above the noise, calling out to her.
"Sasha!" Zach shouted as he made his way toward her, moving against the stream of people.
He donned his golden armor, which Darren had crafted for him, with a giant greatsword slung across his back. Following him were his team members: Jenna, Ryan, Lenny, Jerome, and Hinako.
"Zach! Where's mom!?" Sasha asked when he reached them.
"She's already at the teleporter," Zach said, pointing back the way he came from as people squeezed past his enormous frame.
"What about my mom!?" Kia asked.
"She's there as well," Zach said before pushing past them. "Go! My team and I will hold them off for as long as we can!"
"No!" Sasha screamed, grabbing Zach's gauntleted hand. "You can't!"
Zach wrenched his hand from her grip. "We don't have time to argue about this!"
He pushed her and Kia down the hallway. "Go! You're the only one left who can operate the teleporter!"
Before she could say or do anything, Zach pushed past the crowd and disappeared.
"Don't worry!" Jenna shouted, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll make sure he comes back!"
"Yup!" Lenny said with a thumbs up. "We won't let him play hero!"
They then also rushed past, hurrying after her brother.
"Come on!" Kia said, tugging her arm. "Zach's right! You need to get to the teleporter!"
Sasha reluctantly tore her gaze from the direction her brother went, and they rushed down the hallway with the river of people. A minute later, they arrived at a large hangar-like room that was quickly filling up with people. She used her Kinetic Essence to pick herself up and fly over the crowd, and Kia followed with her Wind Essence. They landed on the platform for the teleporter, and their mothers rushed up to hug them.
"Thank God you're okay," Sasha said after their embrace.
Her mother offered her a tired smile before nodding toward the teleporter. "We're all counting on you now, baby."
Sasha nodded before approaching the device. It was a large, circular mechanical archway built in a similar design to the Dungeon Gates. When a mage channeled Space Essence through it, a portal would open up just like it, leading to wherever the mage desired. However, they were running out of places to run to. Where were they supposed to go now? She had no clue.
Sasha placed her hand on the Essence Crystal that powered the machine and closed her eyes. How had everything come to this? They were the last of humanity, fewer than 5,000 survivors, and they were on the run. Fleeing from the corrupted monsters sent by the Dwellers. No, sent by him.
A tear rolled down her face as a flame of rage fanned to life within her. If only her father hadn't died in that Dungeon all those years ago, they wouldn't be in the mess they were currently in. An image of her father popped up in her mind. His handsome, rugged face smiled back at her, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. That was where she found safety, in her father's presence.
She channeled Space Essence into the Crystal, and to her surprise, lightning crackled as a portal flickered to life before her. Her mother released a joyous laugh as Kia and the advance team moved forward. Kia looked at her, a questioning look on her face. She gave her a nod before they entered the portal.
A moment later, Kia returned. "It's safe! Let's move!"
Sasha's heart nearly leapt out of her chest as the crowd surged forward.
Kia came to stand by her as people rushed past. "It's a safe world, looks a lot like Earth. Hopefully, this time, they won't find us."
"They'll always find us," Sasha said, pausing before continuing. "He always does."
Kia's face darkened at her words, her caramel skin reddening in anger.
"But this time, I think it'll be different," Sasha said before Kia's anger boiled over.
"Why's that?" Kia asked, her face returning to normal.
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."
Just then, the entire structure shook.
"Looks like they've finally breached through," Kia said, drawing her sword and pulling her shield from her back.
"Mom!" Sasha shouted, drawing her attention. "I need you and Aunt Chrisy to go through and organize the people on the other side!"
Her mother looked as if she were about to argue, but before she could, Sasha continued. "Please, Mom! Do this for me!"
Her mother hesitated for another moment before nodding her head and stepping through with Aunt Christy. Everyone passed through until only a small team of warriors and the two of them remained, waiting for Zach and the defense teams to arrive. Thirty seconds later, Zach's team came rushing into the room as Jerome slammed the blast doors behind them.
"GO!" Zach shouted as they flashed over to the teleporter.
The door shook as something big rammed into it. Those who remained rushed through until only Zach and Sasha remained.
"Go!" Sasha shouted as the room shook this time.
Zach gave her a reluctant look before going through. Sasha turned to look at the door just as the hulking monstrosity burst through. It was at least ten feet tall and shaped like a gorilla, except that shadows covered it with spikes protruding from it. She pulled the Crystal from the device and stepped through just as the monster charged her way. Luckily, the portal winked out of existence just as the monster landed on the platform.
Sasha turned, and her mouth fell open when she took in her surroundings. The world they were now in was breathtaking, especially the sky. A large planet with swirling blue gas, similar to Jupiter, dominated much of the sky, illuminating it in a dim blue glow. She didn't know why, but this felt like home. This world was going to be their new home.