Crawling out of the dungeon entrance came a monstrosity that would likely haunt the present soldiers’ dreams for centuries to come. Though that would only be the case if they were able to dodge its fangs bearing down on them. Mirgia was quick to react, having felt like something was wrong about a second before the creature appeared. It had both fangs and mandibles, making for a strange latticework in front of its insectoid facial features. It was about the size of a human walking on all fours, with a bright green exoskeleton. Sharp points and joints painted a hostile figure and shiny eyes were looking around rapidly. Mirgia’s bow was in his hands as the creature bore down on the first guard, but he was too slow to prevent anything. The second guard at the entrance – the friendly older man – was quicker than Mirgia and Doroly were. With a mighty leap he slammed into the creature’s side, pushing it off balance. The younger guard managed to slip away and regain his composure before grabbing his sword and shield. It was at that point that Mirgia’s first arrow flew through the air and hit the creature perfectly in the head. Except where Mirgia thought it’d fell the creature at once, it simply bounced off the hard exterior. He cursed and slung his bow back over his back, taking a hunting knife from his belt and dashing towards the creature. Sounds came from the camp nearby as people started realizing something was wrong.
The creature rapidly moved its head around, looking at the different people around it. The older guard had taken a few steps back, blood pouring from a wound where he impaled his arm on one of the creature’s spikes. The younger guard’s training kicked in and he started circling the creature, sword and shield at the ready. The creature dashed at him mandibles and fangs colliding with the steel buckler of the young soldier. He held strong and took two slashes at the creature, one bouncing off its tough exterior, but the other finding a joint in its arm and seemingly doing some damage, as the creature shrieked out in pain and took a step back. It then changed direction to go at the older guard, who looked like an easier target with the damaged arm. The guard held up his shield to defend himself and was promptly shoved backwards by the force of the creature’s pounce. A terrifying mouth opened up larger than should be possible and bore down on him.
“No you don’t,” Mirgia yelled, barreling into the creature like the older guard had done just before. He’d spotted most of the spikes and hard points as he approached and was able to avoid hurting himself too badly. He did feel a sharp pain just under his knee but he ignored it. His knife found purchase in the creature’s arm joint and with the same crack you’d hear when opening up a lobster or a crab to take out its meat, the creature’s arm went limp. It let out a strange sound that Mirgia took for a whimper before slamming Mirgia into the ground, the air leaving his lungs. As he struggled to get back up, Doroly came charging in, low to the ground with her sword arcing upwards. The creature reared back and threw its damaged arm in front of itself to protect the rest of its body. Doroly hit the joint and the weapon effortlessly pushed through the cartilage that was holding it together, separating it from the rest of the creature. Green blood splattered over her and Mirgia and the creature roared. Her sword continued and slashed at its stomach, which seemed to be a weak point. At this hit, the creature hesitated for a moment, and as it spotted the rest of the Sahilid approach from the nearby encampment it let out a final roar before quickly turning and dashing back into the dungeon, vanishing in the darkness. Silence filled the sandy desert, green blood seeping into the red ground.
Mirgia was applying his new bowspring to his bow as the previous one had snapped when he hastily put his bow away during the scuffle. Captain Arios had summoned Mirgia, Doroly and the two guards that fought the strange creature to his tent, to discuss what had just happened. Everyone was nervously sitting in their chairs while Garath – the older gentleman – explained what he saw. Arios had ordered several of the other members of camp to guard the entrance. Some of them complained as although he was there to preserve orders and not to command them, they eventually relented when Arios stood on business and threatened to kick them out of the camp. Mirgia could see why he was given a role of authority amongst people who are so quickly to be in conflict with each other. He still didn’t understand the Sahilid’s strange hierarchy, but it seemed to work for them. “So if I’m understanding everything correctly,” Arios summarized, “an insectoid monster suddenly leapt out of the dungeon, started indiscriminately attacking people before retreating back into the dungeon after it took some damage and this,” he pointed at the severed arm of the creature, “is what we have left of it?”
Garath nodded. “That is correct sir.”
Arios took his dagger and slashed at the creature’s arm, the impact sounding almost like a clash between two swords. The arm came away without much damage, a shallow cut that didn’t breach the exoskeleton. “Our most pressing question then is to figure out how many of these creatures are in there. If it’s just one or two, then a well prepared party can take care of them with minimal losses. If this strange dungeon is teeming with them, then that’s a big problem.”
“I think there’s a more important question,” Mirgia said. He hadn’t spoken much but he’d been thinking about what just happened and what it meant.
“And what is that question?”
“If this dungeon appeared only recently, and we’re positive that the entrance was not here a little while ago, that means that it was either elsewhere and somehow transported to this place – which seems highly unlikely – or it was spawned out of nowhere which seems even more unlikely. The original idea that it might have been hidden under the ground and somehow appeared at the surface doesn’t hold much value if a living creature is inside of it, as they would have no way of surviving without food.”
“Not necessarily true,” Doroly said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s a chance that this dungeon, whatever it is, is connected to tunnels or something else underground, and that the creature could get food that way.”
“Either way,” Captain Arios interrupted the discussion, “what’s clear is that we know very little about this place and it’s more dangerous than we thought it would be.”
This they could all agree on.
“So what’s the plan?” Mirgia asked.
“Well, I will send a message back to Sar’Doth and the emperor, so we can perhaps get some back-up. In the meantime, I suggest you either return to town, or you help us investigate the entrance and see what we can find out. It’ll take weeks for back-up to arrive if the emperor deems it necessary. Worst case we wait for that long only to hear back that we have to figure it out ourselves.”
“Sounds like a caring leader,” Mirgia said.
Arios shrugged. “The nation is thriving under his rule, so people have tolerated his whims for a while now. Some of the older folks say this won’t last, but he’s won over the younger population quite efficiently.”
“And what is your opinion?” Doroly asked.
“On the emperor? He’s a powerful man with an impressive drive. If he continues on this path then Severanti will continue to be a prosperous empire.”
“But.” Mirgia added.
“But as good as his qualities have been until now, if he starts heading in a wrong direction at any point, there are no systems in place to stop things from going bad.”
“He’s a ruler with no one to tell him when he’s wrong,” Mirgia filled in the blanks.”
Arios nodded.
“Well, let’s hope that he won’t be wrong for a very long time,” Doroly said. She got up. “I’ll go back to Redsan and see if I can’t find some friends to back us up.” She looked at Mirgia.
“I’ll stay here, I want to keep an eye on the entrance here. Say hi to Teddy for me.”
“I will, I’ll return tomorrow.”
Opal Kaharis 