Book 2, Side Chapter:

[Adam & Sam]

“You think it’ll open if we pull this lever?” A young man holding a staff asked, his black eyes looking at the contraption before him.

His companion, a lean young man with brown hair and coffee colored eyes, regarded the lever with a skeptical look. He glanced around the tunnel they were in, and found that nothing seemed to be out of place. Regardless of that however, he still frowned. “I dunno Sam, this place screams cliché boulder trap. Why don’t you just blow up the door or some shit?”

“I can, but like, look at this place,” Sam scratched his head full of black hair and motioned to the surrounding area. “Statistically, most deaths regarding tunnels and locked doors inside undead-infested dungeons are caused by cave-ins and two people making stupid decisions, rather than deadly rolling boulders.”

“Reference?”

“I don’t reveal my sources, Adam.”

“Thought so. I mean, can’t we just pull the lever, then destroy the boulder?”

“And where’s the fun in that?” Sam snapped at him.

“We get to blow up a boulder.”

“Your face is a boulder.”

“It’s actually you’re.”

The two lapsed into silence and continued to stare at the lever. A moment passed, and before Sam could react, Adam’s hand snaked out and casually pulled the lever. The black-haired mage looked at him disgustedly. “Oh. My. Goodness, this guy right here is an actual boulder.”

With the loud grating noise of stone scraping against stone, the large door in front of them opened. Adam shrugged and stepped in, with Sam following behind him.

It was dark, so with a snap of Sam’s fingers, a ball of light blinked into existence behind him, lighting up the area in a four meter radius. They passed ruins and fallen rock, the bright glow of Magelight casting animated shadows all over the wall as they passed the skeletal remains of the people that used to live in the underground settlement. Adam jumped in fright as a loud clack suddenly rang out, and the glow of Sam’s magic being prepared lit up his back, but they both calmed down upon realizing that the sound originated from a skull Adam had accidentally kicked.

They proceeded onwards, the sound of shoes against stone echoing out in a steady beat. Slowly, the smell in the air started to change. The smell of rot. Decomposition.

Undead.

Sam sent his Magelight forward, and it revealed a group of zombies kneeling down on the ground. Each of the animated rotten bodies were deformed, their bodies lacking any trace of skin, and instead showing decayed, bloody muscle. Some arms were even larger than the other, while stomachs were bloated, and boils and abscess littered the bodies of the dead. The corpses paid them no attention. Sam’s black eyes began to glow with a blue light as magic coursed throughout his body in what seemed like a massive loop, circulating to gather around the pit of his stomach. Adam blocked Sam with his arm.

“Trash mobs,” The brown-haired young man drew his sword and dagger. “Take care of them with an AoE, and I’ll handle that… thing. Support me as soon as you can.”

Sam frowned and strained his eyes in the darkness. Adam’s eyes were better than his, so it took him a while to notice it. The lump of flesh. The lumbering form of rot and decay. It limped towards them, each step becoming louder than the last. The rattling of chains frantically echoed out as the creature began to sprint, noticing them with its single, milky white eye.

Suddenly, with a booming roar, the undead cyclops knocked back the zombies with its arm and barreled on towards them.

Adam immediately burst into action, the bottom of his shoes flickering with a green light as he took a step forward. Whoosh! The air surged, propelling him diagonally towards the cyclops. It punched at him with a hand covered in rusty, blackened chains, but Adam’s movements were reminiscent of a leaf riding the wind. Before it hit him, his body swayed to the side, and the sword in his hand flashed to cut a deep wound into the monster’s arm.

It roared and swept its arm out. Adam reached out the hand holding the dagger and lightly tapped his fingers against the approaching arm with an unmatched speed. He soared upwards, somersaulting over the creature. His feet thumped against the ceiling and he activated his skill again.

Fluttering Steps.

Adam’s body flashed, and he swept downwards like a hawk hunting its prey. His sword raked through the giant’s chest, before screaming against a large set of chains wrapped around the creature’s stomach. He gritted his teeth and kicked back, barely avoiding the cyclops’s fist as it punched at its own belly. A bang rang out. Adam hit the floor, rolling on the ground upon the rough landing. He kicked, and his foot glowed to propel him upwards again. A foot smashed the spot he was previously in just a moment after. Suddenly, a wave of cold air swept past him.

An explosion of azure flames boomed out from behind him, but instead of heat, a terrifying chill spread out to freeze the zombies. The flame stuck to their bodies as they screeched in agony, the persistent conflagrations of frost cracking their frozen skin.

Sam waved his hand, and with a surge of mana, the frozen corpses exploded, sending ice shards out to injure the remaining zombies. One of the rotten enemies dashed towards him, but soon, it found itself falling to the ground, its lower body tumbling down in front of it. A floating blade of ice stabbed into its head, killing in. In total, four swords of ice surrounded Sam; ready to strike. He stomped his foot, and the floor beneath him in a twenty meter radius was covered in a thin sheen of frost. His feet glided against the ice, each blade of frost slicing into any zombies that he neared. They burst into showers of red blood and yellow acid, hissing against the melting ground.

His palms glowed with a blue light, releasing a chilling mist. He watched Adam stab his dagger into the monster’s eye and jump away. As his friend left, Sam swept his hands out and as if a bird was spreading its wings, three shards of ice shot out from each of his hands.

They sunk into the cyclops’s torso, causing dark blood to spray out. Sam moved his body to dodge the blood. Adam’s feet glowed again, and he once again flew up. He sheathed his dagger and held his sword in a two-handed grip. He spun and swung his weapon. An invisible blade of air surrounded the sword and extended its range, causing a deep wound that sliced half-way into the giant monster’s neck. It roared as Adam backed away and uncoiled the chains arounds its fists. It swung its arms, and like a whip, the chains smashed towards Adam.

Sam was circling the cyclops when this happened, ice forming around his steps to help him glide. His eyes flashed, and like a conductor, he swept his arms out. Immediately, on a patch of ice in front of Adam, a thick pillar of frost rose up to block the strike.

A boom exploded out, and the pillar cracked against the attack, giving Adam enough time to get out of the way. He grabbed the dagger by his waist and threw it at the cyclops. Hurriedly sheathing his sword, he took the bow on his back and nocked a few arrows, firing them at the monster. His accuracy had improved, evident by the bolts that cleanly pierced the rotten flesh on the creature’s face. Blood spurted out of its punctured eye.

It roared in agony, but it was cut short by a spear of ice that shot out from the cracked pillar. The spear stabbed into its lower jaw, effectively shutting its mouth.

With a flick of Adam’s wrist, the dagger dislodged itself from the cyclops and flew towards him. He activated Fluttering Steps and met the weapon in the air, catching it in his right hand. He held the bow in his left, and activated Wind’s Edge, giving the dagger an invisible scalpel-sharp blade that extended its range to that of a longsword. Adam kicked away the hand the cyclops used to block its face, a boom ringing out as Augmentation magic amplified his strength.

He was about to stab the dagger into the monster’s face when Sam finished casting his spell. The four swords of ice combined into a large greatsword. Sam swept his arm to the side as if he was swinging a blade, and the greatsword followed the motion, shooting forward to cut off one of the cyclops’s legs. It fell to the ground, and Adam’s strike missed, raking a gash through the monster’s head instead. As the monster toppled down, it swung its arm, intending to hit Adam with its beefy forearm. The young man paled when he saw the strike coming. Hurriedly, he let go of his dagger mid-air, before kicking it with his shoe that glowed with a green light.

Fluttering Steps activated once again, showing the true strength of its utility.

Adam sped away from the dagger mid-air after touching it with his shoe, moving as if he had just sprung from solid ground. An instant later, the dagger was hit by the monster’s arm. The limb continued forward and slammed against the wall, denting the weapon to an unusable state.

Sam cringed. He’d fucked up. The greatsword of ice collapsed in front of him, and he sent its shards into a downward arc to destroy the monster’s head. With a final spurt of blood, the cyclops finally died, and an equal amount of mana surged into their bodies.

A notification popped up in front of them both.

System Message!

Congratulations! You have passed your ninth mana threshold. You are now at your tenth. This threshold will require an exponentially higher amount of mana to pass.

Adam sighed and sent a glare at Sam. “Jesus Christ man, time your shit correctly. You almost got me fucking killed.”

Sam scratched his head in apology. “We need to work on our teamwork.”

“No shit,” His friend said, checking his equipment. He sheathed his bow to his back and checked his sword for damage. The edge had chipped from hitting the chain a while ago. Adam sighed and moved his hand over it. Slowly, the blade wriggled and mended itself, before finally looking as if it was never damaged in the first place.

The mage looked over curiously. “Mend Metal?”

“Nah,” Adam shook his head. “Nature magic. Wood Elves use the forest to store and create weapons. It’s why my sword’s colored so strange, it’s made of Ironwood instead of actual iron. Same with the dagger, but I can’t even find it.”

Sam watched Adam pull a block of obsidian-colored wood from his enchanted pouch. “I’ll just make a new dagger from this one. It should be better than the last because I’ve gotten better at Nature-Weapon Shaping, but it’ll take a pretty long time. I won’t have a dagger for a while.”

They walked forward, and the mage stepped over a pool of blood. He noticed Adam wiping away a bit from his face, an wondered why his friend didn’t seem as bothered as he was. Killing monsters was a thing, but Sam wasn’t used to getting blood on his robes. It made him feel dirty, and clothes were a pain to clean. Adam seemed accustomed to it, but Sam guessed it was probably just because of the melee-nature of his friend’s fighting style. Or maybe… Adam wasn’t bothered by blood and death anymore? He stopped thinking about it.

His group of friends really didn’t talk about serious things. There was an untold agreement between all of them that the chat would normally be used for lighthearted talk and banter. An escape, per se. A quick energizer to put a grin on their faces before they faced the next obstacle. They’d always been like that. Everyone had problems, secrets, and everyone else expected them to share when they were ready to. Times that weren’t spent talking seriously about problems were times spent joking and laughing. Alen had told him a year ago how much he appreciated a group like that, and Sam thought the same.

Sam’s wandering thoughts were interrupted by Adam’s voice. “Yo, there’s something here.”

He blinked and looked at his friend. Adam moved past him and pointed at a set of large, stone doors. They hung open, complicated patterns and pictures lining their frames. Sam frowned. “What is this place?”

“I dunno,” Adam said, observing the doors. “Think we should go in?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Well, there shouldn’t be any strong undead left. Let’s see what’s inside man.”

Adam nodded and stepped in, Sam’s Magelight floating in front of him to reveal a smooth, pattered stone floor. It abruptly brightened, revealing a larger area. Eight pillars rose up from the ground in a circle. The room was a dome-like structure, and statues of races Sam had never even heard about littered the room; some broken, and some looking as if they were fresh from the hands of a sculptor.

The center of the room held a single altar, and in the middle of the altar laid a single orb that seemed to contain the starry sky itself. Stars glittered within it, and a feeling of infinity radiated out.

They approached, and Adam touched the surface of the orb. It rippled like water.

Sam frowned. He’d felt the mana in the air. Ever since they entered the room, magic was steadily gathering within. Why? He touched Adam’s shoulder. “Let’s get out of he—“

The patterns on the floor abruptly lit up. Adam jumped and let go of the orb. The two looked back to see the doors slam shut. A terrifying amount of mana gathered to fill the room. The orb in the altar shone with a brilliant light, each start within twinkling brightly. Sam reached into his mana pool to break the door open, but he found that he couldn’t use any spells. Adam shouted in a panic. “My magic’s sealed off!”

Sam looked around frantically, before his eyes landed on the orb. “Smash it!”

Adam grabbed the hilt of his sword and drove the pommel down. Just before it hit the orb, everything exploded into a world of white.

Slowly, it died down.

The room was dome-like in shape. It held eight pillars, and the statues of races one wouldn’t find in the surface. At the center was an altar, and it a single black orb, one that didn’t seem to have anything within it—as if it was the abyss itself.

If a scholar from ancient times had been present, that person would’ve recognized the runes on the ground. Runes for an older, more powerful spell array. An array that had been lost to history.

The spell array for a Mass Teleportation spell.

Afterwards, he would’ve recognized the races. He would’ve recognized the symbolism of the pictures that were on the doors, pillars, statues, and the single altar that laid in the room, along with the significance of the orb placed upon the altar. The room was an entrance.

It was an entrance to the dream of all explorers, and the home of the races the continent of Redaria didn’t even remember.

It led to the sky that lurked beneath the world above:

It was an entrance to The Underearth.