Chapter 28- Ditorian Hideout

The new pair ran along the south side of the Bordering Mountains, careful not to actually cross over.

“So Morpheus, you think the Scarecrows want to recruit us?” Rose asked.

“I hope so, the name sounds cool.”

“Yeah, they’re named after these ancient things people use to put in fields.”

“Scarecrows aren’t ancient?” He asked, confused.

“Yeah they are, farmers use ward stones. How old are you?”

“I don’t know.” He lied.

“Oh sorry.”

“Don’t be, it's fine.” He said.

“Should we rest here?” Rose suggested.

Morpheus looked around but he couldn’t see any trees.

“I’d prefer somewhere with trees.”

“Aright elf-boy we’ll find some trees.” She snorted.

“It’s Morpheus actually.”

“Is it?” Rose joked.

They ran for another few minutes and found a woodland beneath a mountain.

“Here sounds good?” She asked.

“Yeah, we should see if there're any monsters around first.”

Rose just rolled her eyes.

Morpheus found the largest tree in the small woods and circled around it, focusing on Arcane Pulse.

He picked up a familiar image, lined with arcane magic.

“Pilocal.” Morpheus said.

“And?”

“Well we should kill it.” Morpheus said.

“They’re harmless.”

“How?”

“Just watch.”

With a wave of her hand, the ground beneath her broke and covered her in rock armour. She punched the tree and it shook violently, startling the pilocal.

As it had done before it sprung off the tree aiming for Rose. She caught it by its neck and slammed it against the tree and began to repeatedly punch it until it went limp.

“Well…” Morpheus said.

Rose put it in her pouch and brought something else out. She threw it on the floor and a huge tent just popped up.

“These are the ones my family uses.” She said.

It was a blue square tent with a pyramid on top, light crystals surrounded the outside and it emitted an aura which Morpheus picked up with Arcane Pulse.

“The life of a rich girl.” He said.

“We prefer the word wealthy, want to come in? It’s cosy.”

“Sure.”

Rose lifted up the tent flap and Morpheus stepped in. It seemed to be larger than the actual tent, it stretched much further back with a huge bath, wardrobe, sofa and queen size bed.

“I need to get one of these.”

“You should if you have thirty gold spare.”

He choked on his tongue, she really liked to show off her wealth.

“Mine only cost sixty silvers for everything.”

“Do you have any food? I can tell you about your wings now.”

Morpheus nodded and brought out a fine platter of orc meat and pastries. Rose picked up two pastries with either hand and began munching on them.

“Your wings.” She said while swallowing a mouthful. “Are from an extremely rare race of arcane beasts.”

“I figured that.”

She shook her. “I read about them in the library in Southcross.” She swallowed another mouthful. “They are over level two thousand, a type of griffin.”

“Two thousand!”

“Yeah, except they’re the size of a castle, bigger than a behemoth, people refer to them as apex.”

“What are they called?”

“No one has a name for them, they have only been seen from a distance. The only person who recorded them was Themtruük, the dungeon spirit.”

Morpheus became excited, he smiled to himself.

“You can leave now, a girl needs her beauty sleep.”

“Alright, are you sure you’re gonna be ok down here?”

“Yeah it’s ok, I’ve got a ward stone which deters monsters and alerts me.”

“Oh, that’s the aura I could see.”

She winked at him and he left the tent along with half of his food missing. He still had the huge mountain lion so he didn’t think much of it.

With a cigarette hanging out of his mouth he scaled the tree and set up his tent on the thickest branch he could find. He fell asleep quickly because he had experienced his first battle.

He awoke early and stretched, he was excited to explore the hideout, his first request from the Scarecrows.

He lit a cigarette and scaled to the top of the tree and looked out over the area. It was an overcast day, with a few droplets of rain splashing down on his head. He could see the location far off in the distance where they would be heading, Morpheus could see no sign of any civilisation.

“Hey elf-boy you up?” He heard Rose shout.

“Yeah!”

He put on his armour and packed up his tent quickly, he leapt down to see Rose pick up a little cube off the ground.

“Before we head off Rose I need to tell you something.”

“Like what.”

“You have to swear an oath before I do. It can endanger me if you don’t.”

“Fine.” She said and with a roll of her eyes the oath was set.

Seeing the notification pop up, he took a deep breath and took his chest piece and vambraces off. Rose looked at him so strangely but soon realised what he was about to tell her.

“Isis?” She said.

“Yeah, Hercules and Themetruük.”

“By Zues… “ She said, intently staring at all his marks. “This is unheard of Morpheus.”

“Yeah I know, can we go.”

“Wait.” She said and got closer to Morpheus, touching the marks. She ran her fingers across his marks, edging close to Loki’s tattoo. Morpheus grabbed her hand before she touched it, the sexual tension increased dramatically.

“Not that one.”

“Why?”

“It’s my creator's mark.”

“Oh, so it’s not a god’s mark?” She asked

“No why would a god make a chimera?” He lied.

“Well with so many marks I’d still question it.”

“You ready now?” He asked again.

“Yeah if you’ll answer my questions on the way there.”

“Fine.” He sighed.

The two set off, zooming through the trees and out in the open.

“Was it you in Ervos?” She asked. “With the tower?”

“Yeah.” He answered.

“Don’t want to elaborate?” Rose questioned with a smirk.

“I held up a tower to save the lives of others.”

“A bit better.”

Morpheus just rolled his eyes, soon they had arrived at the marked location.

“They’ve probably set up an illusion array.” Rose said.

“So we need to pat around until we find something?” He suggested.

“Pretty much.”

“Let’s start with the closest mountain.” Morpheus said.

“Agreed.”

The two circled around the mountain, literally patting the stone.

“I should be able to feel the difference in the stone when we get near it.” Rose said.

“Ok, I have a pulse skill which may be able to penetrate it.”

Morpheus homed in on Arcane Pulse while walking around the mountain and soon enough the red lines displayed a huge tunnel.

“It’s here.” Morpheus said.

“Where…” She said while falling through the fake stone.

Morpheus just laughed.

The illusion seemed incredible to Morpheus, he studied it, going in and out repeatedly. He could see out when he was in but it just looked like the cliff face when he was out.

“Thanks for the hand.” Rose said, dusting herself off.

“You’re a big girl.” He chatted back.

“We should be careful, I doubt they would come back here but we still should be on our guard.”

You have been invited to a party by (Mage, Ground Breaker, Level 124) Do you accept? Y/N

Morpheus suggested yes and pulled out his axe, it was more comforting seeing her status.

It looked like any other cave as they were walking in but soon the appearance transformed into a square metal corridor.

“Dwarven construction.” Rose said.

Morpheus nodded like he knew what dwarven construction was.

You have entered the dungeon ‘Ditorian Hideout’

“It’s a dungeon!” The young chimera exclaimed.

“It can happen, that would mean they abandoned this place and the system transformed it.”

“So are we expecting monsters or people?” Morpheus asked.

“Maybe both, some might come back.” Rose answered.

“Brilliant.”

The pair walked through the metal corridor, lit by crystals in the center of the roof. Patterns in the metal began to form the further they went in.

Morpheus detected a large open area up ahead, where his arcane pulses did not return to him.

“There’s an open area up ahead.”

He got a small nod from Rose.

They got closer to the open area and the view took their breath away.

It was a huge underground city, all made from black metal. The stone roof formed a huge dome encasing the whole city, in the center was a large pillar stretching out supporting the roof. From the large pillar there was a river stretching out to the side of the dome.

From where they stood, they overlooked the entire city.

“This must be an ancient dwarven city.” Rose said.

“Why would they live here?”

“Because it’s an ancient dwarven city, they are built to last long and usually hidden away.”

“Why would they hide this place?”

“Probably when the old Empire invaded these lands and they wanted to hide I imagine. The Ditorians found it and made it their base.”

“That does make sense.”

The whole place was eerily silent yet beautiful, it was a sight to remember.

“Look down there.” He heard Rose say.

(Stone Golem, Level 105)

It was in a humanoid shape, yet made completely out of stone. An orange crystal glowed in the center of its chest.

“I’ll take this one.” Morpheus said, walking down the steps confidently with his axe over his shoulder.

“Intruder!” The golem screeched and it’s crystal glowed red.

It’s whole body seemed to tighten and it threw a punch at Morpheus, hitting him in the chest pushing all the air out of his lungs.

He fell back a few feet on the steps. The golem broke a few ribs but nothing he couldn’t handle.

The young chimera stood up, the golem threw another punch but Morpheus ducked under it and with a spin of his axe, took off its legs causing it to fall over. With another swing above his head he chopped into the crystal in its chest, splitting it in two.

“You ok?” Rose said behind him.

“Fine, do you reckon all the enemies are going to be golems?” He asked.

“Probably, the deeper we go in the more high level they’ll be.”

“Will they all be stone?”

“Probably not, Mithril, Dark Steel or even obsidian golems.” Rose said. “If it’s dwarves they used golems to patrol the city, it’s a lost school of magic.”

“You really know your stuff.” Morpheus said.

“My family sells books, I read almost all of the history ones.”

“Do you reckon that’s why the Scarecrows want you?” He joked.

She smacked him over the back of his head. “I won’t tell you about Themtruük if you keep insulting me.”

His face quickly returned to neutral, Rose to him was like a walking search engine, it’s only need was food.

“I will not insult you anymore, where do you reckon we should look for information?” He asked.

“Central buildings, churches, there’s bound to be secrets hidden all over the place.”

“I don’t know what it is but wherever that river leads interests me.” Morpheus said.

“What’s your luck stat?” Rose asked him.

“Eighteen.”

“That’s terrible, mines at thirty.” She boasted.

“Is the luck stat a sixth sense?.” He asked.

“Yes and no, luck influences a lot of things. It may be Tysche’s hour at the casino or what you just said, you have a feeling about that place.”

“Maybe Themtruük’s mark is trying to tell me something.”

“Alright don’t brag about.” She said with a little smirk.

“What do you want to do with the bodies?” He asked.

“We can sell the cores, they fetch a high price.” She replied.

He sighed, he had just smashed one into pieces.

“We can try to avoid most of the golems, if the ones on the outside are one hundred and five, the highest one could be two hundred. We’d both die within a few seconds.”

“That’s comforting.”

Morpheus and Rose headed down the steps, Archaic Wings slowing down his jumps while Rose used her wind magic.

They jumped up onto a roof, and Morpheus could take a look at the building. Small doors but big houses, a mixture of dark stone and metal.

“Shit stay down.” Rose whispered to him and they both ducked under a roof.

They heard the clang of a pair of metal footprints beneath them.

Morpheus took a sneak peak.

(Liquid Steel Golem, Level 130)

This golem had the same humanoid shape as the other ones but this one was covered in liquid steel. The liquid seemed to stick to the exo-skeleton of the golem, it flowed around its body in a path.

They waited in silence as the clang of the strange golem faded past them.

“Liquid steel golem.” Morpheus whispered to her, while he put his back against the roof.

“I wish I saw it now.” She said back in average volume.

“It was scary, I couldn’t see its core either.”

“Probably in its center. Was the metal moving in a path?” She asked.

Morpheus nodded.

He drew his attention back to Rose who was rubbing her chin, and staring at the ground.

“What is it?” He asked curiously.

“My father was obsessed with dwarves, he has read many books on their war with the half giants.”

“It was just a war, so what.” He said.

“So what! you don’t know their bloody histo… “

She paused and cleared her through.

“It started when the half giants claimed they were the true bloodline of the giants of Jötunheimr. The dwarves challenged them, saying they were also the true bloodline.”

Rose inhaled.

“Then when Odin had seen enough bickering between the two races he sent a giant, and giants aren’t what people expect. Giants are taller than mountains, their hands the size of a small city.”

“It would make sense that the half giants are descendents of giants.” Morpheus said, proud of his deduction.

Rose put a finger over her mouth, signalling for Morpheus to shut up. “No, royal dwarves are taller than half giants. Anyway, when the giant came, he trampled all over the half-giant city, while the dwarves in the mountains were safe.”

“Odin did not send the giant to answer questions, only for the people to see a true giant and deduct the answer for themselves. The dwarves concluded that since they were not destroyed, they were actually the true bloodline of giants. Then the half giants retaliated, they sent their army to the home of the dwarves. But the giants could not penetrate the swirling silver soldiers.”

“By the way that’s not what they were actually called, it’s just how the rhyme describes them.” She quickly added.

Morpheus nodded, he lit a cigarette as she inhaled again.

“For the silver soldiers could not be killed with brute force, only magic. The half giants had no magic, so they couldn’t get through without sacrificing their entire army.”

“The half giants felt betrayed by Odin and cursed beneath him. But what the two races did not know was that they were both from giants.”

Morpheus was about to clap but she carried on with her eyes closed.

“The half giants began to worship Zeus, and wanted revenge on the dwarves. So they offered their intelligence to Zeus, the god of thunder spoke to Odin and they soon concluded that both races would need some sort of punishment for their petty argument.”

“Zeus kept the intelligence for himself, while Odin took the height of the dwarves. Only the royals kept their height so the rest of their race would look at them like half-giants.”

“So it’s kind of like two wrongs don’t make a right.” Morpheus said.

“Yes, exactly that.” Rose replied.