Chapter 12 - Rot and Roll

  Kael politely maneuvered past Ves and me on his way back to see what Ullun was talking about. The elf simply held out her hand in the direction of the rune chamber to direct his attention, after which Kael crossed his arms and had a pensive look on his chiseled face.

  “So, it would appear that this cave was hiding a secret just beneath our very feet.”

  If I wasn’t sure that Kael was talking about the rune, what he said next confirmed it.

  “The mana from our own Vitality Mage’s spell must have caused this reaction. Ullun, would you mind…?”

  Without any kind of acknowledgement, Ullun began casting a spell. Colorful glowing lights flowed from her extended hand, into the chamber.

  I moved closer to Kael. “What is it?”

  “‘Twould seem my suspicions were founded - this cave holds much potential for danger. There is a rune engraved upon the ground, illuminated by lingering mana.”

  Well, fuck. All I could do was play dumb. “Oh, wow… I can’t believe we didn’t notice that.”

  “For it to go unnoticed by many over countless years is concerning. I can only assume that most fledgling adventurers, even if they had seen it, lacked the ability to understand precisely what it was.”

  The area around me and Kael grew brighter as Ves approached. She also acted surprised. “Will she be able to activate it?”

  Kael chuckled. “If Ullun can’t do it, it must be a terribly powerful rune, and the Goddess only knows what it could be sealing.” Ves’s catlike pupils practically turned into dollar signs - or gold coins, anyway.

  I thought that if Ullun wasn’t immediately able to activate the rune, she would spend a good deal of time attempting it, but she stopped in under a minute. Her arm lowered and she gave Kael a subtle shake of her head, her expression still mysteriously inscrutable. Kael hardly looked upset about this. “Poor fortunes be damned. No matter. I’ll mention the rune in my report to the Network, and it may be evidence enough to have them seal this wretched cave permanently.”

  My eyes met Ves’s. “Well, let’s keep checking the rest of the cave. I doubt there’s anything else like this, and who knows, maybe that rune is just… broken, or has a specific trigger.”

  Kael clapped an armored hand down on my shoulder, which hurt more than I would care to admit. “Your positivity is an inspiration to us all, Jeremy. We should not dally any more than necessary!” With that, he marched past us (with Ves and I having to quickly press our backs against the cave wall), followed closely by Ullun.

  Ves looked frustrated, so I rubbed her back a couple of times. I didn’t want to push it any farther, and I knew I made the right decision to keep it to a minimum when I saw her blushing… but she did relax a bit.

  When we returned to the junction chamber, Kael asked me where we had fought the cave rat queen. I pointed out the correct passage, but then Ves spoke up. “We were just there before we ran into you. There’s nothing to see but a half-eaten rat queen.”

  “Your knowledge is appreciated, Ves. However, for that creature to nearly slaughter you, Jeremy, and my sister, I suspect that it may have been stronger than the average rat queen that so many adventurers start their journeys by slaying. And now, Aralithia…”

  I got the impression that Kael was still unaware that Thia didn’t possess his own natural aptitude for the Defender class. Before I could say anything, Ves asked him a question.

  “What? Is Thia okay?”

  Kael stopped in his tracks, and Ullun did the same almost at the exact same time - the two of them were clearly in sync. “She…” Kael sighed. “There is no need to concern yourself. Proving that this cave is far beyond what is expected of beginners will benefit us all.”

  Ves had a mixture of confusion and annoyance on her face. I thought it was nice that she was concerned about Thia, and Kael’s response had connected some dots in my mind. Thia must have told him about wanting to quit the guild, and he thought that it was because she nearly died fighting the rat queen. Add that to the actual death of another guild member, and it was no surprise that Kael would hold a grudge against the Starter Cave.

  The increasingly-pungent stench of the dead rat queen hit me as we entered its chamber. Killing those other three rats in here earlier didn’t help the smell.

  While Ves had her ball of light float towards the center of the ceiling, Kael marched up to the giant corpse with a look of absolute disgust. He asked Ullun to begin, and she held her hands over what remained of the body. Waves of faint magical energy emitted from her fingertips and across the corpse, as if she were scanning it. “I’m not sensing anything unusual about it.”

  “That’s right.” Ves stepped closer to Kael and Ullun. “It was my fault–”

  “What is this?!” Ullun was continuing to magically scan the corpse, and actually looked concerned. She gasped and ran towards the nearest wall as the rotting carcass suddenly twitched. Not missing a beat, Kael held up his shield and carefully took a few steps back, keeping his eyes on the rat queen.

  What the fuck?! I shouted “Ves, over here!” The disgusting remains shifted and moved shockingly fast, getting onto its four legs… which were mostly just bones, with some tattered scraps of flesh hanging off. Like Kael, Ves didn’t look away from the monster as she backed up.

  What was once the cave rat queen faced me and Ves, one eyeball dangling out of its skull. It made a horrible gurgling screech, which expelled some maggots from its insides.

  “Undead abomination… face me!” Kael hit his greatsword against his golden shield, making a clanging noise. The zombie rat didn’t react at first, making me wonder if it was unable to hear him, and it took a shaky step in our direction. Fortunately, the sounds finally seemed to register, and it turned towards Kael. With each passing moment, it seemed to have less trouble moving.

  I felt an intense heat fly past me as Ullun conjured a fireball. It hit the exposed ribcage of the creature, leaving behind some burn marks, but otherwise not having much effect.

  Dropping the torch and drawing my daggers, I dashed behind the rat queen. I could see the festering wounds I gave it in our previous encounter, and stabbed it in the same spots. Unlike last time, the rat didn’t so much as flinch. I thrust my daggers into its back over and over, faster than I thought was possible for me, but it all seemed to be ineffective. There wasn’t even any blood left to leak out.

  Kael yelled and swung his sword, slicing off one of the monster’s front legs. It teetered a little, but bizarrely managed to keep its balance. Just like with my attacks, that one didn’t slow the rat down at all - in fact, its speed was still increasing.

  This must have caught Kael off-guard, as the rat lunged and bit his sword arm, piercing the gauntlet. Kael growled in pain and nearly dropped his weapon. Lucky for him, Ves was prepared, and cast a ranged healing spell at Kael.

  “Jeremy. Hold up your daggers.” Doing so, I looked at Ullun, who pointed at me. Bolts of fire shot from her finger, first to one of my blades, then to the other. They were radiating heat as flames flickered from the metal. I thrust them back down into the zombie, making long cuts and leaving behind burned flesh.

  Now that was more effective… maybe too much, with Kael temporarily out of the fight. The creature spun around - good thing we had cut off the tail so it couldn’t whip Kael in the process - but stopped before facing me. It had noticed Ves first, and scampered frighteningly fast at her on its three remaining legs.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Just before reaching her, Ves leapt out of its way with remarkable swiftness and proficiency. Holy shit, I didn't know she could do that! She rolled a few feet away, and held out her hand towards the creature. I could see her fingers making subtle movements as they glowed.

  The undead rodent thrashed its head from side to side while making the most grotesque squeals yet. The same kind of glow around Ves’s hand surrounded the monster, and pieces of flesh, innards, and bone started falling off of it and onto the cave floor. Its body was shaking and its movements were more erratic and unstable than before, but it tried to close the distance between it and Ves again. The rat queen made one step with its only front leg, but its bones fell apart like a machine with its screws loosened.

  With a series of slimy and crunching noises, the creature collapsed to the ground in front of Ves. She ceased her spell and staggered backwards.

  Brandishing my flaming daggers, I rushed over to the monster and slammed them into its still-twitching head. It made what I hoped was its final, final, gurgle, and then there was no more movement at all.

  I pulled the daggers out and heard Ullun casually say “Step back.” Doing so, I noticed that my weapons no longer had the magical flames surrounding them. Ullun threw another fireball at the corpse, and this time it actually caught on fire.

  “Ves, are you okay?” I let her lean on me so she wouldn’t fall over.

  “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.”

  “That was pretty fucking badass.”

  Her face was pale. She looked up and gave me a weak smile, which quickly faded. “I don’t… How did I do that?”

  Kael’s booming voice interrupted the moment. “We’re done here.” He reminded me of Ullun in that moment, with very little emotion on his face. I didn’t know what had caused the rat queen to rise as an undead creature like that, but I was sure that he would be furious as well as even more confident about wanting the cave to be sealed.

  Not waiting for a response from anyone, Kael picked up the torch I had dropped, and left the chamber. Definitely reminds me of Thia. Ullun almost looked surprised by this, as well, but followed him out.

  It was then that I realized that Ves’s magical light was still illuminating the chamber, and hadn’t so much as dimmed when she cast the spell that incapacitated the monster. I spoke to her quietly, not wanting my voice to echo throughout the cave. “What was that?”

  The color was returning to Ves’s skin and she seemed to be having less trouble standing, but I didn’t want to stop her from holding onto me just yet. “I dunno. He’s always weird.”

  “I mean the rat. Is that normal?”

  “No… I mean, I’ve heard about necromancy, but I have no idea how anything could just reanimate like that for no reason.”

  We looked into each other’s eyes, and it felt like we were thinking the same thing: Maybe Kael was right. Ves definitely didn’t want to admit that, and I didn’t want to suggest it.

  “Oh, the way you dodged the rat was pretty damn cool. Jealous of your cat-like reflexes.” Ves looked uncomfortable and her eyes moved away from mine. “Ah - is that okay to say?”

  “Jeremy…” She looked around cautiously, although we had both seen Kael and Ullun leave the chamber. “My reflexes are alright, but I’ve never jumped like that before. And I’ve definitely never done a- a dive roll before.”

  “Really? I kind of assumed that it was a netharri thing.”

  “No, Jeremy, listen. That sort of thing is what Rogues do. You should be able to do that, at least, sooner or later. How the hell did I do it?”

  It’s possible that I had been misremembering exactly what she did in the heat of battle, but the image of her dodging the attack felt clear in my mind. Ves’s movements had looked so professional and well-trained. If she had never done it even once… something weird was definitely going on. Even for a magical fantasy world I knew very little about.

  “You know a lot more about how classes work than me. Do classes not share any skills or abilities?” I was thinking about cross-classing, or even different variations on the same basic class concept.

  “I guess I’ve heard about some classes that overlap a bit with others, but Vitality Mage doesn’t share anything with Rogue. Nothing that I know about.”

  “Huh. Okay. Of course I would be sent to another world just in time for crazy stuff to start happening.” In truth, I only said that because I didn’t want to admit my actual theory: that all this weird stuff was happening because of me. Or maybe my unexpected arrival was part of the weirdness going on in Fielende. Ves didn’t say anything, and was deep in thought. “Ves, we should catch up with the others. I want to know exactly what Kael is going to do.”

  “Right… shit.”

  We hustled down the passage, and I wondered if Kael had planned on inspecting the rest of the cave before leaving. From the junction chamber, however, I could easily hear the clomping of his armor echoing from the passage that led outside. He hadn’t been trying to be quiet before, but now he was in a rush to leave.

  When we made it outside and could finally take another breath of fresh air, we saw the Sterling Seekers duo a short ways away. Ullun was facing us, and Kael was staring off in the distance in another direction. He spoke without turning to look at us.

  “Jeremy, Ves. I don’t deserve to have companions such as you. You have my deepest thanks for aiding us today.” While I wouldn’t describe his voice as quiet, it was the least loud and bombastic I had heard from him to date.He took a deep breath. “The events that have just unfolded in that… cave were beyond my expectations. I shall be reporting this immediately, and I pray you two can offer your testimonies, if necessary.”

  I had to think of something. It was true that the Starting Cave was becoming more dangerous than it had apparently ever been, but I couldn’t stop wondering if it was connected to me in some way. Of course, I also wanted to help Ves learn about the rune. Regardless of whether it was protecting treasure or sealing something dangerous, it would be good to know… and that felt like the right angle to take with Kael.

  I called out to Kael so that I knew I had his attention. The tall aevrana turned, and Ullun crossed her arms.

  “It’s obvious that this cave is more than just ‘too difficult’ for fresh adventurers. From what I’ve heard, generations of beginners have used it as a way to practice their new classes. But in the last, what, twenty-four hours or so, a strange rune has been discovered, a monster came back to life, an adventurer died, and at least a few others have nearly died.”

  Kael put his hands on his hips, looking resolute. “Precisely. You should say as much to the Network, when the time comes.”

  “No, no, listen. If the cave just gets sealed up, then the mystery behind whatever is causing all of this can never be solved. Today, the cave rat queen was reanimated. Tomorrow, it could be someone’s family member. Or even a bunch of monsters set loose on an unsuspecting town. And what if the source of all this is hiding somewhere in the cave, and even if it’s sealed, keeps getting stronger until it can break free? It could have been stopped before it got to that point.”

  “What are you suggesting, my friend?”

  “You told me yesterday that your time in Perrenbrook was limited. Let me and Ves figure out exactly what’s going on in the cave. If it turns out that it’s something we can’t handle, we’ll report it.”

  Kael’s eyes narrowed. “And what if the danger is such that you do not have a chance to report it?”

  I put an arm around Ves and pulled her to me, her eyes widening. “We’ve survived everything the cave has thrown at us so far.”

  The handsome man burst into laughter. “Indeed you have! I should not have doubted you for a moment, Jeremy. Ullun, do you have any objections?” He looked at the elf, who merely shrugged. “Very well. I was hoping the two of you could join us on our journey back to Headquarters, and formally enlist with the Seekers. However, under these circumstances… Ah! I shall provide you both with a stipend while you perform this important duty.”

  I’m pretty sure Ves started purring a little at that.

  I marched over to Kael and held out my hand. He cocked his head at the gesture, but clapped his armored palm against mine, and we shook on the arrangement. After some more discussion about how we would send him progress and receive our stipend, Kael excused himself and Ullun, and they headed back towards Perrenbrook.

  Leaning towards Ves, I whispered “Uh, Kael got bit. Is he going to turn into a zombie?”

  Ves suppressed a laugh. “No, he’d have to die before I healed him. Although, he might want to have another Healer check it out sooner or later.”

  Once they were out of sight, Ves bounced up and down. “Holy shit, Jeremy, that was amazing! We can get paid as we train, and try to find out if the rune is hiding some treasure!” She gave me a tight hug, which felt better than I could have expected.

  “Thanks, but… do you have any idea where we should even begin?”

  “Ehh… no. Not really. Guess we’ll have to ask around.”