Of Darkness and Blood

The next day, the Arte and Leo are dressed in Long-sleeved shirts with a cut at the collar, connected by a thin rope, a pair of black pants, and leather boots, as well as leather wristguards. Arte had a broadsword mounted on her hip while Leo had a dagger; he also rolled his sleeves up because they were too short, in addition to the already sweltering heat. Along the way, they were attacked by various beasts of the forest, which Sky made them fight. Nearing the center of the forest, she grinned and led them to a gaping hole in the ground.

“Here it is.” Sky states.

“It's really a big hole,” Leo states.

“‘Can you guys see that sparking object at the bottom?” She asks.

Arte kneeled close to the hole, beside Leo, and indeed spotted something shining in the dark. However, the distance between the entrance and the ground within was tens of meters deep.

“Your goal is to bring back that item.” She spoke.

They turn to her, noticing that her boot was raised as she kicked them both on the backside and sent them falling in.

Leo rolled, using the momentum of his fall to carry him forward onto one knee, with Arte landing square on her butt. Leo looked up at Sky’s cheeky expression and sighed.

“I forgot she was a reference to another game they made. Light Spirits. They were complete sadists in that game.” Leo states.

“And she’s your favorite character?” Arte questioned while rubbing her backside.

“It’s fun when you’re not on the receiving end, alright.” He admits.

Sky tosses down a satchel.

“I’ll be waiting for you both to get out and watch out~ because there are monsters about! ” She laughs.

“You really are into sadists, aren’t you?” She questions, deadpan.

“That’s not true at all. She’s just been through a lot, and she does mean well. Believe it or not, she’s treating us much better than her mother treated her.” He whispered.

“I guess there’s more to her than meets the eye.” She says.

Leo grabs the satchel off the floor, revealing it has two canteens, wound dressings, potions, and a few days' worth of rations.

“Well, let's get moving.” He says with a smile.

He slings it around his neck and starts stretching. Arte goes and picks up the glowing item and discovers it was a glitterstone. A small stone that emits light—a common item. She sighed and put it in her pocket. She picked up a regular pebble and tossed it at the hole. It slammed into an invisible wall before falling back to the ground.

“You gotta find another way out,” Sky says, wagging her finger.

“More than meets the eye,” Arte grumbled, trying to convince herself.

The surrounding area had rocks of varying sizes and various tree roots, were intertwined between the soil and rock, creating strange pathways of rock and wood. Beyond that, however, the light from the hole could not reach it.

“It might be too dark for us to progress, and knowing how dangerous cave creatures are…” Arte mumbled.

Leo pulled out his dagger, searching for the sensation he felt the previous day and recreating it, allowing him to pour anima into his dagger and causing it to glow brightly.

“You can use skills now?!” Arte exclaimed.

“I just learned it last night. Glimmerblade. You still learn skills through the dream archive, it seems.” He states. “Not only that, but I have two more.”

“So it does still exist… Now we can traverse this cave, great job.” She states.

“The dream archive is a living network that connects all previous users of a certain class. There, they learn skills from the spirits of their predecessors. In the game, once one gains enough experience and goes to sleep, they would level up and potentially gain a skill.” Sky thought.

She drew her broadsword, allowing Leo to lead with the light source. The roots formed a network of tunnels underneath the soil, while simultaneously maintaining the entire cave system. They followed the path of roots deeper into the cave, and various monster corpses had been torn to shreds, their pelts messily destroyed. The stench of blood was heavy in the air, blood-stained a majority of the roots and rocks in this room. Nausea began to set in from the stench of decay and fecal matter. Arte vomited, and Leo managed to fight the urge.

“It's much more gruesome than the game.” He muttered.

“No kidding…” She said between deep breaths. “As much as I want to leave, we need to be vigilant going forward. Or this could easily be one of us.”

Continuing past the bodies, the sound of rushing water filled the cave. Leading them into the next large room. Vines formed a dome-like shape around the area, and other plants and flowers had grown from them. To the far back of the cave, a dark opening near the ceiling had water spilling out powerfully, creating an underground waterfall. Large heaps of glitterstone were strewn about the area, glowing brightly. Just before the waterfall’s basin was a small clearing of rock and vine. Leo’s mouth hung open in both surprise and amazement. Arte couldn’t help but feel it looked familiar.

“Doesn’t this place feel familiar?” She asks.

“Yeah, it does. Isn’t this the Hero’s first dungeon?” He recalled.

“You’re right.” She remembered.

Unbeknownst to the duo, a creature skulked about, watching them from afar. Hidden by the pocket of darkness above the waterfall. Awoken by the noise, it jumped down onto the clearing. The eight-legged monstrosity was covered in brown hair and bladed legs. It reared itself upward to intimidate the two of them. Without hesitation, they drew their weapons and stared the beast down.

“It’s a Terrontula,” Leo gripped his dagger tightly, trying to still the shaking in his arm.

“Watch out for its venom,” Arte said, letting out a deep sigh to calm herself.

The terrontula quickly crawled toward them and slammed its bladed legs down. Arte blocked it with her blade, but the strength of the blow made her stagger slightly. But she managed to hold her position. Leo slipped in from the right, cutting right at its joint and severing one of the legs. The creature roared with pain, and blood splattered onto the floor.

“Keep it up!” She exclaimed.

The terrontula jumped back into the air and shot a large web at them both. Leo manages to dodge it by rolling to the side. Arte was nearest to the wall and didn’t have enough time to dodge like Leo, and tried slashing through the webs, but the material was soft and flexible, bending with the downward motion of her sword. The webs slammed her, wrapping themselves around and entrapping her. The terrontula spun its body vertically in midair, yanking her from the ground in seconds.

“Whoa!” She shouted.

She circled around the beast and was slammed into the ceiling with a heavy impact. Her back collides with the wall and causes her to black out. Releasing the web, it landed back onto the ground and started attacking Leo. The terrontula weaves together a barrage of leg strikes. Leo begins deflecting them with his dagger, catching only a single cut on his shoulder. The sound of their clashing blades brings her back to her senses.

“I’m not letting this happen again!” She thought.

She tears the web off herself and falls from the ceiling. It was at least a three-story drop, and fear welled up within her as she took the plunge, brandishing her blade in one hand and using the spider’s webs as a makeshift rope to swing toward it. She landed on its back and stabbed through the spider’s abdomen. In a fit of rage, the terrontula spun around, knocking Leo back. Arte grabbed the handle of her blade tightly, hanging on for dear life as the creature rampaged. It crashed into walls and rocks, attempting to get her off its back. Leo came in from behind the beast, slicing two of its legs off with a swift cut. His vision danced as he nearly fell over, but he shook it off and delivered another slice to its legs. The creature, having half of its legs missing, fell over with a thud.

Arte, now with a stable footing, drove her blade from its abdomen through its head in a heavy swipe, causing the beast to fall limp. Arte sheathed her sword and wiped the sweat from her brow. Leo tried to walk over to her and nearly fell, catching himself on a nearby boulder.

“Leo?” She questions. He steadily slips off the boulder and falls to the ground.