Chapter 10: Chapter 10 - The Graveyard Of Those Who Failed

Sunlight struck Zoe’s eyes as she left the church. She squinted with surprised relief. The familiar yellow orb burned in a pale blue sky. No longer the brightly colored swirls from before they entered the dungeon.

She turned to Bella with excitement.

“The sky’s back to normal?”

Bella shrugged.

“I don’t know think we’re on earth right now. Not technically,” she pointed behind Zoe. “The rules are different here.”

A shimmering film obscured the church’s open doorway. Zoe, hope quelled by Bella’s response, poked at the barrier. A tingling field of static prevented her from pushing after about an inch. She removed her finger as a notification appeared.

[Welcome to Mirrorbell Dungeon.]

[Objective: Retrieve the stolen bell and return it to the church.]

[Bell fragments collected: 0/4]

[This is a Black Star dungeon. The exit will remain closed until you complete the quest. There is no time limit.]

“You finally woke up,” said a voice behind her.

Anton grinned from his perch atop an ancient gravestone. The pitted marble inlaid with shimmering mirrors. His eyes tracked her motions as she limped toward him. More stones jutted up from the withered grass like pale teeth. Light bounced from the mirror fragments decorating the mossy stones. Marble crosses leaned in the distance.

A slight wind carried a smell of spice and tall trees provided thin strips of shade. Small pink fruit hung in clusters amongst the dark green leaves.

In the distance, a tall wall encircled the dusty grove.

And there were corpses.

Ancient and desiccated skeletons hung on crude crucifixes of wooden branches. Scattered amongst the gravestones like scarecrows, dozens of them encircled the church. Zoe passed Anton and stepped closer to one of the crucified bodies. The bones gleamed in the light.

A mirrorlike substance coated them. Perfectly reflective. A distorted version of her face stared back from the curves of the skull. The clothes of the figure were sun-bleached and paper-thin. At the feet of the crucifix, a sheathed sword and a flared helmet crumbled into rust. Similar items rested at the base of the other corpses. All of them ruined by time.

The crucified skeleton twitched. Mirrored jaw clicked. Fingers stretched. But the heavy spikes through wrist and ankle kept them in place.

Zoe stepped back, her heart pounding, and the figure stilled.

“What is this place?” Zoe asked looking around.

Anton shrugged.

“A church, a graveyard, some trees. What it looks like, I suppose. There’s a well behind the church, and Bella says the fruit is edible. We won’t starve if we take time to figure things out.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“How am I meant to explain how a magic door took us from one world we don’t recognize to another? All I know is nothing’s attacked yet and I’ve seen no trace of this bell we’re supposed to find.”

Zoe examined the nearest grave. A spiral of tarnished mirror set inside pearlescent marble. She could only read the name by touch.

“Who’s buried in a place like this?”

“Previous adventurers who didn’t cut the mustard.”

“Adventurers?”

“You reached level 2 on the plane?”

“Yeah.”

“You should have received a prompt about your vision. Look at those corpses again.”

Zoe peered at the nearest suspended corpse. Tatters of a dress hung from the mirror-coated skeleton. She nudged the part of her brain connected to the system.

[Fallen Adventurer. Room Two.]

[A lone warrior of the spear. Proud of her strength, her lack of allies sealed her fate.]

The prompts faded away and left Zoe with a feeling of emptiness. Not even a name to record whoever died here. She couldn’t let that be her fate.

Bella handed her a handful of the pink berries.

“You should eat something.”

“Are these safe?”

Bella popped one into her mouth. Chewed.

“Yeah, there’s a tree in every garden where I live in Australia. They’re called lilly-pillys. Super tart.”

Zoe tried one. Her lips puckered at the fruit’s sourness, but it was something to eat. Not so bad once she got used to it.

She couldn’t believe only a few hours has passed since the system first arrived. Her whole body ached. She needed time to rest, that was the first thing she told her patients after the ordeal of surgery.

The entire world needed rest after the surgery the system performed…

Gazing at the other crucified bodies brought up more of the same. Each was a fallen adventurer. Beside their name was the room they reached. The highest being room four. None said room one, but she solved this mystery by gazing at the nearest tombstone.

[Here lies one who failed to enter the gate.]

She raised an eyebrow.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What’s the gate?”

Anton pointed as he chewed one of the tart fruit. A part of the wall stood taller than the rest. Dark doors spread to reveal a dark tunnel.

“That opened,” Anton swallowed. “When you exited the church. I think it was waiting for our entire party to enter this area,” he smiled. “I’m glad you were unconscious, to be honest, it was nice to relax.”

Bella shook her head.

“I don’t know how you can relax.”

“How would stress make any of this better?” he shrugged. “Anyway, I’m monitoring the situation.”

Zoe sat on the grass, her back against a gravestone. The sun felt good on her skin. She could sit here for a while. Could probably fall asleep.

If it wasn’t for the quest ticking down. Urging her forward. She eyed the open gate. Was that the way forward?

“Where are the others?”

“Cassy and Joel?” Anton pointed to a copse of trees. “Over there.”

“How’s his jaw?”

“We figured out how to use Skein to boost Vitality.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Skein is that wiggly thing you were telling me about. You can push it into one of your attributes to increase the effect. That trick you did to burn up those weird crawling heads? You were boosting your Willpower.”

Zoe nodded. His explanation clicked into place with the knowledge she had developed instinctively.

“Is there anything else we can do with Skein?”

“Not that I’ve figured out yet, but maybe give me more than a couple hours?”

Zoe laughed.

“So what are Cassy and Joel doing?”

“They snuck off an hour ago. Probably doing what young people do,” he waggled his eyebrows. “They’re not too happy with you, by the way.”

“Because of his jaw?”

“Sure. And they think coming here was a mistake.”

“How so?”

Bella picked up the short curved sword from under a crucified body. She drew the blade from the sheathe.

“We’re trapped here until we finish the quest,” she gave an experimental swing. “Cassy kept saying we should have tried to make it to the town. To the safe zone, you know?”

Zoe closed her eyes. The sunlight warmed her face. In the subtle, red-tinged darkness, she tried not to think about the ticking clock. Tried not to think about the looming mountains of gods. The sword dangling over their heads.

Tried to give herself a simple minute of rest before she thrust herself back into the fire.

Was the dungeon the right idea? Should she have run for the town and risked the mantis in the woods?

Who knew?

Who cared?

This was where she was now.

“We wouldn’t have made it,” she said at last.

“Know that for a fact, do you?”

She opened her eyes at the voice. It was annoying, full of righteous indignation, and belonged to Joel. His jaw was swollen, but unbroken. His blue eyes glared at her from under a mop of scraggly red hair. Beside him, Cassy stood with her hands on her hips.

They were both flushed. A little sweaty. Strands of Cassy’s hair stuck out of place.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

“I know we’re alive now,” she said.

“So we would be dead if we tried for the town?” Joel asked.

Cassy nodded. Her arms folded with a sense of smug superiority.

“Face it,” she said. “Your rash decision trapped us here.”

“I didn’t make you go through the door.”

“No, but were we supposed to go off by ourselves?”

Zoe laughed.

“I wouldn’t have stopped you.” She pointed at Anton. “He went through the door first, but you’re not mad at him are you?”

Cassy stamped her foot.

“But you were in charge!”

She wanted to argue. Say she wasn’t in charge. Shouldn’t be in charge. But the quest ticked away in the corner of her mind. The quest that would kill all four of the people watching her — the people waiting for her response — if she failed.

So she stood.

“Fine, I was in charge, and we came here. Now I’m still in charge, and I say we continue.”

Joel sputtered.

“You can’t just decide that!”

“I can and I did. If you don’t like it, stay here,” she glanced over at Anton and Bella. “You two ready to head on?”

Cassy grew red in the face.

“Why did you ask them and not us?”

Zoe glanced at Cassy and Joel.

“You seem like you want someone to take charge. So, go grab as many weapons as you can find. Bring them to me. You’ve got five minutes, now chop-chop.”

Joel’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but Cassy tugged his hand and led him away. They whispered something that Zoe didn’t catch but started checking the bundles of weapons. It seemed Joel was happy to step in line or had some future rebellion planned. She would wait and see, and so she ignored the glares sent her way.

For now.

“You sure told them,” Bella grinned. “But what’s the rush?”

Zoe forced down the need to share her private quest with the others. She kept secrets before, so she could keep this one. For all she knew, they received quests similar to hers. The secrets could be another test from the System.

“I want to get through this dungeon. Maybe see what that Fools Rush In Title means. Did you two get it?”

They nodded.

“More than that,” Zoe tested what she was about to say in her mind, it should be fine. “I want to level up again. I want to feel that power. It feels… invigorating. Addicting. And I think we’ll need to be a lot stronger. If my suspicions are correct, there should be rewards inside. Monsters to kill as well. And… I get the impression this place is just watching us. Waiting to strike.”

Bella frowned.

“Like it’s alive?”

Anton grinned.

“I was wondering when you two would notice.”

“You know, you can share things you see with the rest of us.”

“I know.”

Zoe gritted her teeth.

“Want to share your Insight with the rest of the class?”

He looked at her with that strangely intense curiosity.

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Don’t call me boss.”

Bella clapped a hand on her shoulders.

“Too late, boss,” she said with a laugh. “So, boss, what do you want to do about that?”

“What?”

Bella pointed at one of the crucified skeletons. Light flashed from its mirrored bones as it twitched and pulled itself free of the nails driving it into the wooden cross. It fell to the ground, hunched, creaking, and rose.

Baleful green fire burned in its eye sockets. It took a jerking, shaking step. Another. It grabbed a long-handled sickle from the base of the crucifix and marched towards them.

A trickle of sweat ran down Zoe’s back. She stood. Were her hands shaking? No. She breathed, forcing them still.

This was a chance to advance. Her quest wouldn’t complete itself.

More skeletons shifted on their crosses.

Was it all of them?

Out in the second ring of crucified skeletons, Cassy crouched and picked through a pile of scrap. Above her, the skeleton dragged its wrist free from the heavy nail. It raised its hand high. Boney claws flashed with mirrored sun.

Zoe sprinted toward her.

“Cassy move!”

Cassy glared at her.

“I’m going as fast as I —”

The skeleton’s claws struck her in the neck. Dug into flesh. She tumbled to the ground as blood squirted from the wound.