First Look at the Corruption

The two women silently traversed the crystal lit tunnel. It was damp and dark and smelled of sulfur, but it was devoid of all creatures. Thalia had stopped suppressing her mana, so they were probably not going to encounter any weak ones for a while.  She couldn't help but smile as they walked. It had been such a long time since anyone had tried to cheer her up, sonshe was really touch by Alara's gesture. 

Soon the tunnel ended and opened into a vast series of steps carved from stone, sprouting from the ceilings, into walls, and down the side of an otherwise sheer cliff face. From where the two stood, they could feel the change in temperature. It had dropped noticeably, and Alara felt a shiver go down her spine. 

She hugged herself and rubbed her arms, “Oh man, it's so cold!”

Thalia turned and carefully flung off her robe, making sure not to drop her familiar, and placed it on Alara's shoulders. “Watch Yotaro for me. These aren't normal stairs. This has to be level 27, meaning that this is kind of like a maze. I have to look around for the activation switch.,” she touched the floor, and her eyes glowed blue as frost spread across the mouth of the cave. 

After a few seconds, a burning red sigil appeared on the floor near Alara's feet. Thalia quickly moved towards Alara and tapped the glowing mark at her feet. The floor began to shake and there was a loud grinding noise as a set of stairs moved right to the mouth of the tunnel. Alara looked utterly surprised. She did not realize that the dungeon held such complex mechanisms. It was truly a different place than everyone in her life had described it. So far, nothing felt sinister, and they hadn't been attacked by anything. Hell, there was a monster riding in the hood of her borrowed robe. 

Thalia started walking down the stairs and when Alara didn't start moving, called out “Hurry up slowpoke before you get yourself lost.” Alara hurried behind Thalia. She was actually worried about getting lost so she was as close to Thalia as she could get without feeling like a creep. 

Aside from her talents as a mage, Thalia was also a gifted empath and could feel the overwhelming anxiety of the princess. To ease her new travel companion's fear, Thalia grabbed Alara's hand and pulled the tall woman to her side. “Just hold onto me and stay close and you won't get lost.”

After they descended that stairs, there was a large chamber with two wooden doors in it and nothing else. Thalia tilted her head, “I don't remember seeing a place like this before. Be on your guard, I think this means something in the dungeon has changed on this level.”

Alara let go of Thalia's hand as she felt the rune on the back of her neck heat up. With eyes glowing golden, “Thalia, something isn't right. Do you feel that?” 

Thalia turned to Alara, her eyes glowing blue and her own rune glowing, “I do. I think we need to ….”. She was cut off as a spike made of stone shot up from the floor headed right for Alara's side. Before Alara could react, Thalia had already shoved her back several feet before a wall of stone popped up between them. 

Their runes stopped glowing and each was left with one of the doors in front of them. The two stood in defensive positions for a moment before Thalia knocked on the stone wall.

“Alara, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, it's faint but I can. What should we do now?”

“My rune stopped glowing, I'm guessing yours did too?”

“Yeah!”

“Ok then I think we will be safe for now. I can't use my magic on the wall. We're going to have to split up. The exit is gone. I don't feel the presence of any sigils here either,” Thalia put her hands against the wall. She couldn't see the princess but could sense her doing the same thing on the other side. 

“That means we gotta go solo then right?” asked Alara, anxiety barely hidden in her shaky voice.

Thalia punched the wall, she knew that if something had separated them its target was probably Alara since she was the weaker of the two. She wouldn't forgive herself if something happened to the princess on her watch. 

“Hey princess! You got this,  just be careful. Yotaro is with you and I've seen your magic. It really is a cut above. I'll be able to find you as long as you hold onto my coat. Do the best you can. I'll find my way to you soon.” Thalia ran through the door on her side of the wall and Alara followed suit. 

Her door led to a pitch black room that seemed devoid of life and mana Crystals. With that option out, Alara whispered an incantation, “blade of zeus,” before a glowing sword made of electricity formed in her right hand. Its glow was bright but only dim lit the cave. She raised the blade above her head revealing a black, tar-like substance that covered every surface. Her feet stuck as she walked further into the room.

Alara thought to herself, “This shit is so gross! This doesn't seem like the rest of the dungeon. What is going on?”

She continued treading through the sludge until her foot hit something hard. The Rune at her neck glowed and Yotaro let out a vicious growl before standing on Alara's head.  A small distance away, something appeared to be dragging itself out of a pool of the black liquid. When Alara narrowed her eyes she could make out pointed ears and large glowing eyes and teeth. It was moving as if it was injured, in slow,  jerky movements. It was definitely a goblin but something about it gave the princess the creeps. 

Before she knew it, dozens of goblins were pulling themselves out of the sludge. When one was closer, she could finally see why they were moving weird. A giant tumor with vines that looked like veins wrapped around various parts of its body. After some of the sludge dripped down, she could see the tumor and its appendages pulsing rhythmically with a red light. 

Yotaro jumped to the ground and morphed into a large cat-like creature that Alara had never seen before. It had a thick horn at the center of its head and long k-9 teeth that hung down several inches from its mouth. It let out a low growl as a huge shape bubbled up in the center of the goblins. It was about 10 times larger than the smaller goblins and had a single eye in the center of its head. Like the others, a giant tumor clung to the beast’s body  “Shit! A fucking cyclops and these little goblins all at once! I'm so screwed!”

The creatures began to run at her all at once, except for the cyclops that remained in the place where it had spawned. Alara was no stranger to combat and concentrated some mana in her feet. “Flash Step” she whispered and in a flash impaled the goblin closest to her. It let out a howl as she slung it to the floor. Before she could move on to the next goblin, the one she just stabbed rose as if pulled by strings and began to attack Alara with its sharp claws. Right before its claws dug into her flesh, Yotaro pinned the goblin down and ripped off its tumor. The beast fell limply to the ground and Alara and Yotaro exchanged looks. The corner of the beast's mouth drew up in what could be described as a beastly grin. 

“Thanks Yotaro!” Alara shouted.

Alara shot over to the next two goblins and sliced off each of their arms. But as quickly as they were knocked down, they got back up and with a grotesque bubbling, regrew their severed limbs. The princess whipped back around and aimed for the growths on their bodies instead. Once those were impaled, the goblins finally remained down. Meanwhile, Yotaro was engaging the other goblins and the cyclops was beginning to slowly move towards the pair. Alara whispered to herself, “Just what the fuck is going on here?”