The Chronicles of Dwynveia - a Slimeling LitRPG

The inside of the pillar was very eerie, Caeileera surmised. They managed to locate the entrance hidden by some rocks next to one of the other rock bridges. It was an old stone staircase, so they descended it very carefully. Caei could potentially fix any injuries they sustained, but her mana reserves were not infinite, the healing spells cost a lot of it, and she’d rather keep as much as she could for Lilyth, assuming the slime was still alive. She didn't voice that thought though. She barely managed to bury the hatchet with the pipsqueak and after seeing the sheer anguish on her face, she didn't want to put salt into any of her wounds. That and she felt bad enough as it was. Caei didn't ever feel so helpless as when she saw Lilyth trying to delay the Darhun and potentially pay the highest price for it. Caei knew the slime took the hard but likely the correct choice there. She was under no illusion they would be able to ever defeat it. Still, that didn't make the fact someone she’d just met, and pretty much forced herself upon, decided to give their life for Caeileera of all people feel any better.

They emerged out of the staircase inside of an empty room, built completely out of small ancient-looking brown bricks. It was so unlike the stone blocks of the Tower of Trials, that it was mind-boggling that those two structures coexisted.

Or did they? Is it possible those who built the Tower never knew about this place?

Caei was incredibly confused about the Tower sometimes. The building seemed alive at times. Like that staircase, Lilyth found her sword in? She was one hundred per cent certain that up until that day that part of the dungeon wasn’t there. She didn't mention it to Lilyth because she didn't want to freak her and Aki out. The place was bad enough without the layout occasionally changing.

Then there was the mystery shrine. Why did it disappear? Or… why did it appear? Did the Darhun come along with it? What had corrupted it?

She shook her head. There was no point in dwelling on that right now. They had a friend to rescue.

The level they were in had the most curious layout. It was composed of two large rectangles - one surrounding the other. The outer rectangle was an almost completely featureless corridor, with occasional smaller rectangular rooms built into it. Caei could not even fathom the purpose of these. Were they storerooms? Sleeping Quarters? One of the sides had windows in it, through which the Sanguine could see what looked to be a city square with a fountain in the middle and a blocky tower likely a mirror image of the building they were in on the opposite side.

What in the Blood’s name?

‘I hate this place,’ Aki suddenly said, her voice sounding like thunder in the utter grave-like silence of the complex.

So far they were walking in utter silence, so her sudden pronouncement made Caei jump.

‘This feels more like a tomb than anything else,’ the pipsqueak continued oblivious to the Sanguine’s discomfort.

‘Y-yeah,’ Caei agreed.

The inner rectangle of the floor looked to be a corridor connecting the two longer sides of the outer one. There was a staircase accessible from one of the other walls of the chamber, while the opposite one had four empty deep vertical shafts built into it. Without any better ideas, they descended to the next level, which had roughly the same layout as the first one, just the position of some of the smaller rooms was different.

They passed an empty floor after an empty floor. They all had roughly the same plan. After the first three, they gave up on searching these for anything useful and just descended to the bottom.

At some point, Caei and Aki started talking about random subjects just to make the air there more oppressive. Their favourite clothes, funny anecdotes, interesting people, anything really. All was fair in keeping the silence away.

As much as Caei hated to admit it, Aki was starting to grow on her. There was something adorable about her innocence, a quality she never got the experience in her twenty-five years in the Pale Badlands. There you always had to be on your toes, as you never knew if the person you were talking with wasn’t looking to harm you in some capacity.

The “ground” floor proved to be different. Instead of the usual layout, the way to the left of them was blocked while to their right there was a stone block behind which there was the exit to the square. There, by the fountain they found another set of stairs, this time leading to a floor that was clearly barracks of some kind, as most rooms had stone bed frames in them, most of them being for bunk beds, but each room usually had one “normal” bed in them.

What in the Abyss is this place? Caei wondered, not for the first time.

Eventually, I reached a point where it was impossible for me to follow the stream, as it entered the rock wall through a hole that was too small for me to fit in. On my way there, I did see what looked like a sidepath that would take me into the stone pillar but would require me to climb on a small rock-and-gravel slide. I wasn't particularly happy with that option, but backtracking all the way…

The slide, it is then. I can always go back if it’s too steep for me to climb.

Scaling it took me maybe fifteen minutes, but proved to be easy enough. That being said in my current state, the process has left me utterly exhausted. Luckily, I could just slide down from where I was into a passage, and there looked to be some sort of a chamber lit by faint blueish light at the other end of it.

Seems like a decent place to rest.

The “room” turned out to be a fairly large cemetery. It was pretty surreal looking too. The ground was covered in sickly-looking green grass and there was a nasty-looking fog in the air. The gravestones and occasional mausolea looked ancient and all inscriptions on them had long since faded into indecipherability. The wall to my right had a tunnel entrance in it, but I didn't feel strong enough to explore it. To be honest, at that point, I wasn't sure I would ever feel strong enough to do anything again.

If I am to die then I don't think there is a better place for that than a graveyard.

My eyelids feeling very heavy, I dragged myself to one of the mausolea and sat against it. How long had I been down here anyway?

Current Time: 19:40 CET (20:00 local)

Almost time for my evening meds, I chuckled. Still… It's been almost twelve hours of this bullshit. No wonder I am so tired. I don’t thin…

I was woken up by the sounds of buffeting wings. I looked around groggily and saw a teal-feathered yellow-beaked humanoid bird figure dressed in a white robe and standing on crow-like feet on top of a mausoleum in front of me. The unexpected visitor was maybe three metres tall and had a pair of majestic grey wings with a wider span than the not-birb was tall. The not-birb’s head was connected to the rest of its body by a long and thin vulture-like curving neck. In its right bird-clawed hand the figure was holding a scythe. It was staring at me with curiosity clear in its red reptilian eyes.

‘Come to take me away?’ I croaked. ‘I was hoping Ereshkigal would come herself for me.’

‘I’m not the Grim Reaper,’ the figure said in a surprisingly gruff and raspy voice. ‘If that is what you are asking about.’

Something must have shown on my face because the not-birb quickly added:

‘What? Expected me to squawk like a bird? Appearances can be deceiving, my friend.’

He had me there.

‘Wh- who are you then?’

‘You can call me…’ the not-birb paused, perhaps for a dramatic effect, or perhaps it was looking for an appropriate word. ‘... Varyag.’

Ain’t that a word for a Viking?

‘What can others call you, then?’ I asked

‘Good catch, Earthling. But the answer to this question is outside the purview of this conversation.’

I sighed and asked:

‘What do you want from me, Varyag? As you can see, I’m not really in shape to be of any help.’

‘Oh… I just wanted to meet the final champion the Tower of Trials had produced.’

I laughed bitterly.

‘Some champion I turned out to be. I’m about to join the rest of the poor SOBs who ended up in this god-forsaken place.’

‘I think you are doing fine,’ Varyag laughed. ‘You definitely got much further than any of the Earthlings so far.’

‘I definitely got far deeper underground than any of them.’

I looked around the graveyard. The mist appeared to have dissipated.

‘What- what is this place really?’

‘The remnants of an ancient era, far before any on Dwynveia, except maybe the gods, can remember.’

‘And yet you knew where this place was.’

‘Yes. You can say I am a keeper of this place, and thousands like it all around the world. Ensuring that things that are buried in them remain so. Some of them are quite unruly.’

That made my ears perk up. What did the shrine quest say?

New Quest Acquired: Something that Shouldn’t Be There

Type: Mystery (Legendary)

Difficulty: ???

Description: Some things are best left forgotten.

Objectives:

Discover the identity of the mysterious figure on the statue

Rewards:

???

Notice: You really shouldn’t do this

Notice: This quest cannot be cancelled or declined

“Some things are best left forgotten.” Is this what the birb is talking about?

Once again Varyag must have seen something in my expression as he added.

‘What you saw upstairs. What you can see here. They are both what were and the shape of what is to come. Some things that let themselves be kept buried were just awaiting the moment their time would come again at last.’

‘You did a shit job then, bird-but-not-a-bird.’

If Varyag took offence to the appellation I gave him, he did not show it. Instead, he simply said:

‘The great cycle of things can only be delayed, never completely forestalled.’

‘Would it kill you to be more specific?!’ I shouted in annoyance, which only made me wince from pain. ‘You are not making a very good case with your vague ominous portents of doom. So cut the crap, or let me die in peace.’

Varyag shook his head.

‘Unfortunately, I cannot be of more… assistance here. When appointed a caretaker of these places I was bound by magic never to reveal their true nature.’

‘That’s… convenient.’

‘Believe what you will.’

‘Okay,’ I sighed in defeat. ‘You’ve met me, you delivered your vague bullshit, now what?’

‘Now… I want to make you an offer.’

‘If you want to join me, I’m sorry but I don’t think you meet the party profile,’ I joked. ‘We are clearly going for the all-female theme. And you are… well… a bird.’

‘As tempting as it may be… No. What I wanted to offer you is - I can send you home.’

That gave me a pause. Didn’t Ereshkigal say that wasn’t an option?

‘You can do that?’ I asked, careful not to get my hopes up.

‘Yes. I know your goddess said she couldn’t, but what if she was lying? She had lied to you before and she has a vested interest in keeping you here.’

‘The bird does have a point,’ The huntress, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly agreed.

Yes. But can we really trust him?

‘No. But I am happy you are finally listening to your instincts more.’

I turned my attention back to the birb.

‘What do you get out of this, Varyag?’

‘Me?’ the birbman laughed. ‘Nothing. I just don’t think it’s fair to dump all the Dwynveia’s problems on someone who just got here. You have no stake in all of this.’

I mulled over it.

‘No. But that doesn’t mean I am the kind of a person who is just going to abandon people to their doom. What did Aki say? I don’t want to be helpless anymore?’

‘Very well then,’ the bird shook his head and gripped his scythe in both hands.

Varyag readied himself to leap at me, but suddenly a lance of hellfire flew out of the other entrance and missed his head by a few centimetres.

Aki. They actually came for me. Why?

‘We’ll finish this conversation later,’ he said and disappeared in a puff of teal feathers.

Aki and Caeileera burst out of the tunnel, and upon noticing me ran over to me. Aki pounced and wrapped her hands around me crying.

I didn’t have enough strength to reciprocate, so I only said:

‘I’m sorry for breaking my promise.’

‘Oh, shut up stupid.’ she responded and only held me tighter.