Purple light bled across the entire space, painting Aldric's face in a mesmerizing glow that turned eerie the moment he registered its source.
A dungeon rift.
He'd only seen one before – years ago, when it had torn open near his home. Even after awakening, he'd never been considered useful enough to enter one.
Until now.
This evening, following the girl named Mia to this location, he'd been half-certain it was an elaborate setup to rob people. But only people with valuables could be robbed, and Aldric was no such person. So despite his doubts, he'd come anyway.
Seeing an actual rift sent a shock through him that left him subtly disoriented. He sat on a small rock just meters from the swirling portal, watching the other awakened gear up. An opportunity he'd spent his entire life searching for, place to place, rejection after rejection.
And now that he stood here, doubt still managed to creep in.
"Okay, is everybody set?" Mia called out.
A mix of nods and verbal affirmations rippled through the group.
"Alright, let's go then."
They began filing through the rift. Aldric followed, not wanting to chicken out at the last minute, and lunged through with what he hoped looked like determined stride.
Cold hit him first – a chilling shift so drastic it made his teeth ache. Then his surroundings came into focus. They were in a jungle of sorts. Dense canopy overhead. Humid air that seemed to press against his lungs.
"Remember, stay close and don't go wandering off," Alzine – Mia's partner – told them.
Aldric needed no reminder. He planned to cling to this group like smoke to a nicotine addict.
With every crunch of leaves underfoot as they threaded through the dungeon, Aldric gripped his cheap sword tighter, preparing for the low-level monsters he'd been told about but had yet to see.
Not that he was complaining. Fear did well to drown out whatever battle anticipation he'd originally felt.
After over an hour of walking, they reached what looked more like a temple than anything else.
The structure rose from the jungle floor in polished stone – a monument to gods long forgotten. Vines crawled across every corner and crevice, highlighting centuries of neglect. As they approached, the temple groaned with creaks and thuds, as if defying its own abandonment.
"Let's move in. We don't have all day."
Mia marched through the entrance. Aldric and the rest followed her into what most assumed was the dungeon lord's keep. If so, this would be easier than expected. No monsters to fight. Just defeat the lord and leave.
Thud.
The stone door slammed shut behind them. Several awakened jolted in fear. Aldric spun toward the now-sealed entrance and felt his stomach drop. No turning back now. They were locked in. The only way out was through the lord.
[You have entered the Temple of the Perpetually Lost. The Firsts have ordained you a candidate. To save the greater past, you must forsake your future.]
Aldric squinted at the notification, then glanced around to see if anyone else had received the same message. Everyone looked unfazed.
Either they hadn't gotten it, or it was normal when entering a lord's keep. Ignoring it seemed the safer choice.
Inside, the temple stretched into a hallway of subtle darkness. It should have been pitch black – no light sources, no sun, no torches. Yet somehow it remained dimly visible, as if the stone itself remembered illumination.
Each step produced a creak that echoed through the corridor, briefly silencing whispers they'd all convinced themselves were hallucinations. Then the whispers would resume moments later.
Finally, they reached a large circular chamber. Strange patterns and engravings covered the floor, but most paid them little attention. A far more compelling sight dominated the room's center.
A knight – massive and imposing – knelt on a raised platform. Its absurdly huge blade was plunged into the ground before it, hands wrapped carefully around the hilt. The metal covering those hands defied description. The creature showed no sign of movement or life.
"This the lord?" asked one awakened – a man clad in armor that seemed more stylish than effective, his patchy beard doing little to complement the rusting gold plating.
"I guess so. Big bastard, isn't he?" replied another man wearing only a chest plate.
It took Aldric only a glance to notice the pattern. Everyone here was like him. Low-level. Low-rank. Fodder.
Why would a guild specifically recruit this demographic?
As the thought flickered through his mind, Mia walked toward the kneeling knight.
"What the hell is she doing?"
"Is that thing dead?"
Whispers shot through the group, voicing Aldric's own thoughts. He was no raid expert, but even he knew approaching a dungeon lord unprepared was suicidal. Even in a low-rank dungeon.
Suddenly, a blade materialized in Mia's hands – black steel carved with intricate runes. She slammed it into the ground with a resounding thud that echoed through the chamber.
'That sword... have I seen it before?'
The knight, which had seemed lifeless moments ago, began to move. Everyone raised their weapons.
Then it stood.
The creature towered over them all, easily three times the height of a man. A chill raced down every spine. Heart rates spiked. Sweat formed on necks and faces. Yet Mia remained before the knight, unfazed and unafraid.
"I am the true candidate who possesses the blade, along with the required sacrifice." Her voice rang with certainty. "Please, begin."
Something about those words made Aldric tense. To the others, they were simply nonsensical. What truly worried them was how close she stood to the dungeon lord. They concluded she was either extremely stupid or extremely strong.
'She must have everything under control,' Aldric told himself, adjusting his grip on his sword.
"You bear the sword... but not the mark."
The knight's words rang through Aldric's ears with a familiarity that made his skin crawl.
Then it swung.
A clean strike. Perfect execution. The blade sliced through Mia's neck, and crimson sprayed from her decapitated body like a macabre fountain.
'She did not have it under control.'