1.     Dungeon

There was a quiet hum everywhere. It was like listening closely to someone’s chest within complete silence. It was a subtle and almost unnoticeable rumbling that sounded like it was somewhere far away and up close at the same time.

The walls were covered in electric circuit-looking patterns, with faint streaks of light traversing through them sporadically. Upon closer inspection, I think they looked a bit like those magical patterns I used to draw on my arms, but a lot cleaner.

It had a distinct look of something ancient and futuristic at the same time. The walls were somewhat corroded by time and coarse like sandpaper, but the circuits all over were in pristine shape.

The amount of magic in the air was very noticeable. The sparkles were considerably easier to notice. A vast amount of them were amassing along the patterns on the walls, making it more than clear enough they were some sort of… magical pathways or something along those lines.

“Oh, no… Oh, no…!” Amelia was pacing around while feeling at the walls to find the exit we supposedly entered this strange man-made looking cave from.

“W-what’s wrong?” I asked. I wasn’t quite sure what Amelia was so nervous about. Didn’t we just manage to escape the survey party? Isn’t this a good thing?

“W-what do you mean, what’s wrong?! Are you mad?! This is a dungeon!! Do you not see the mana circuits embedded in the walls?!” The knight spoke loudly, but clearly warily. She was petrified of… whatever this place being a dungeon meant to her. And mana circuits? Is that what the patterns on the walls were called? I needed to ask her about it later.

“Uh… A dungeon as in like… a cave full of monsters and treasure? Maybe like a big boss monster at the end of it guarding the exit?” Having played video games in the past, the term ‘dungeon’ wasn’t really new to me in a fantasy context.

“W-what the hell are you talking about!? Treasure?! Boss monster?” Amelia rapidly walked over to me. “Dungeons aren’t some sort of fun past-time activity for daredevil treasure hunters! Are you saying you, a witch, has never heard of one?!”

“I… um… the amnesia…” I was honestly a bit taken aback, so it was hard to think of words to say on the spot.

“R-right… right.” Amelia sighed. “Forgive me…! I’m just…! We are in mortal danger. Please listen to me carefully.” While the paladin did her best to calm herself down, she was clearly really on the edge.

Before we had a proper talk, Amelia surveyed ahead of the dungeon a good twenty or so meters. She returned with a brisk jog, sitting down with me.

“Seems like there aren’t any monsters near the entrance.” A bead of sweat slid down her cheek. Amelia’s obvious nervousness was slowly catching to me as well.

“You’re really worried about this… dungeon thing. Is it really that dangerous?”

“It’s probably far worse than I even imagine. I don’t know what your concept of dungeons is, but the ones I’ve read about are a grave deal.” Amelia’s voice was heavy with worry.

“Read? You’ve never seen one?”

“I have and… I haven’t. Once, a long time ago… when I was still only a knight in training, our survey group got lost in a vast forest.”

I’ll quote Amelia word for word again so that the story stays as accurate as possible.

This is what she told me.

“The knight training involved getting a lot of live combat experience against monsters of various kinds. Our group consisted of a dozen or so more experienced knights and roughly the half of trainees.” Amelia began narrating.

The forest we were training in was known for its monster population, so we were sent on a culling mission to thin out the numbers.

The monsters themselves weren’t a particularly dangerous sort. The only thing providing a moderate threat was their spawning rate. Getting overrun was always a risk when dealing with large groups of creatures, mindless or not.

A serious problem arose, when one night our guards started acting strange.

“E-everyone get up! Something is wrong!!” A warning signal rudely awakened us.

“What is it?!” The group commander asked in his stern voice as he was the first to get up. He was fully geared up in a matter of seconds. The commander was a tall man with a bushy and messy brown beard and matching eyes.

“The forest! It’s different from just a moment ago!” The guards were pointing into the trees.

They were correct. Even in my sleep-deprived state, I could tell there was something wrong with our surroundings. We had gone to sleep next to a cave entrance, and now we were suddenly in the middle of the forest, with nothing but trees surrounding us on all sides. There was a somewhat transparent veil of fog slowly waving around everywhere.

An unnerving sense of intrusion filled me with instinctual fear, and I put on my armor at a record pace, rushing over to where the other knights and trainees were discussing the situation.

“W-what’s that?!” One of the trainees pointed into the trees. Something red was visible in the distance.

The more experienced knights exchanged glances and began warily approaching it.

“In formation B!” The commander instructed, and we moved accordingly, readying a defensive battle formation.

Our fears soon turned to confusion, as next to the little meadow in the midst of the forest we woke up in, was another nearly identical one. It was only cut off from the spot we woke up at by a thin line of trees, and behind said tree line was yet another perfectly circular field of grass.  

In the middle of said circle, was an object of some kind. It seemed to be something akin to a road sign, but instead of wood, it was made of metal.

On the top of the slightly bent metal pole was a wooden triangle made of a dirty but glossy material of some kind. The triangle had a red outline and a yellow inside, and when our torchlight connected with the surface of the shape, it reflected the light back in subtle flickers.

It was almost as if the surface of the sign was coated in fine diamonds, causing all light that contacted with the surface to be bounced back with ease.

In the middle of the yellow triangle was a symbol of some sort. To my recollection, it was a black dot with a long dark bar over it.

To this day, I still do not know what it stood for.

Either way, just like the staircase and door, it felt completely improper in the forest.

Its colors were bright, and to me, it almost felt like a warning of some kind.

In nature, yellow and red are generally signs of danger. Many insects and animals cover themselves in said colors to fend off predators.

“Is it a sign…?” Some of the knights began muttering, walking a bit closer to the thing.

“What does it say?” Asked another one.

“STAY AWAY FROM IT, MEN!!” Screamed the commander. His voice was so loud I was almost certain it caused the surrounding foliage to rustle with its force.

The knights who had wandered close to it stopped like they were frozen, rapidly backing away.

“W-what’s wrong commander?!” A couple of the knights yelped as they returned.

“…” The large man stayed silent. His eyes were focused on the sign like it was his mortal enemy.

The commander walked back a bit, pulling off a twig from a nearby bush. He then threw it at the sign full-force. The red and yellow thing didn’t budge, and the twig simply fell to the ground after contacting it.

A deep sigh followed, and the commander seemed to relax a bit.

“Never mind. I thought it was something else. Stay alert. I don’t know where in the forest we are.”

The mood among the knights lifted a bit, and some light laughter ensued. A few more boastful knights chuckled and walked over to the sign as the commander was looking away.

“Look at this! The metal is twisted into a thin pipe! I wonder if it’s hollow!” One of the knights gently knocked against the pipe.

The way he knocked was weird. As soon as the knuckle guard of his armor made contact with the metallic surface of the sign, he no longer pulled it away from it.

Without losing contact with the surface of the object, he firmly grasped his hand around the pipe in one… strangely smooth motion.

“Hey guys! Come check this out!” He laughed and waved at one of his friends.

As soon as another knight came close enough, he touched the knight’s shoulder. The other knight started acting strange too. As soon as his shoulder was touched, he grasped onto the hand of the first man holding on to the pipe, and then started waving his own free hand.

            “Hahah! What the hell! Yo! Bryan! Come check this!”

Another knight ran over, and the same repeated. The second person in the chain now grasped onto Bryan. As soon as the newest addition to the group was touched, he started calling another knight by name.

“DON’T TOUCH HIM!!!” I suddenly screamed. All the eyes were on me. The fourth knight was maybe half a meter away from the outstretched hand of Bryan.

Something about the situation felt entirely wrong. I don’t know how, but the behavior of the ones touching the sign was abnormal. Why were they so keen on holding on to each other? And the pipe… The first knight was still touching it.

Now the commander noticed the strange sight too.

“Hahah! What are you guys on about?” Bryan laughed. The other knights behind him chuckled too. Oddly enough, I felt an air of…dismissiveness from their voices. The kind when someone tells you something isn’t a big deal.

The commander instantly reached for the fourth knight, but he was too late. Bryan managed to touch the tip of his finger… and he instantly linked hands with the other men. They were trying to reach for the commander too, but barely missed him.

            “What’s wrong?” They laughed and waved around.

“EVERYONE STAND BACK!!” The commander roared, and the entire group backed away.

“Whaaat? We just wanna show you guys a cool thing!” The voices were in perfect unison.

Now everyone else realized something was wrong too. The chain of knights no longer spoke individually. They all spoke in an ear-grating harmony, their voices mixing up into a mess of garbled noise.

“Come ooon~! Grab my hand and you’ll see it too!” The group continued trying to lure in more victims.

Nobody was approaching them at this point.

            “It’s your loss…! Last chance!” They sang in their cacophonic chorus.

When nobody approached, in the blink of an eye, the men were gone. One second, they were before us, the next, there was nothing but the sign.

Cold sweat slid down my back. We all stared wide-eyed at the sign, before the commander collapsed on his knees.

            “It was a threshold after all…” He quietly whispered.

The rest of my memory was a blur. We rushed around the forest in a panic, ending on the meadow with the sign multiple times, as if the forest itself was trying to force us to accept our fate.

Somehow, as the sun finally rose, the forest started looking different again.

We were exhausted both physically and mentally. Our group was missing four men… and the forest was still teeming with fiends.

We lost two trainees on our way out to the monster hordes.

I was later on explained the strange sign was most likely what is known as a ‘dungeon threshold’.

The thresholds are artifacts of various kinds, that act as portals to dungeons and are known for seeming out of place. Nobody truly knows how they are created or if there are any rules to their appearance.

I’ve heard stories of some appearing even in well populated cities. Making contact with the threshold transfers you into the dungeon.

Never in my life have I heard of anyone, who has successfully exited a dungeon alive… But admittedly, if that was the case, how would people know the threshold transports you into a dungeon specifically? A question I couldn’t think of an answer to.

The statement did ring true for those four knights who disappeared that night, however. Nobody ever heard of them again.

After Amelia’s story was over, I was left staring past her blindly.

“W-wait, but… doesn’t this mean we’re basically screwed?” I blurted out to break the silence.

“I wouldn’t put it so crudely, but I agree with the sentiment.” She nodded solemnly.

“W-what about the treasure? The boss monsters?” My voice was nothing but a shaky whisper at this point.