Chapter 55: The Remnant

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Remnant

The stone door continued to open.

Slowly, the grinding noise echoing throughout the underground chamber as ancient mechanisms whirred to life after years of inactivity.

Arin left his hand pressed against the surface.

The Dungeon Master’s Mark burned against his skin.

Blue light bled from his palm and across the door, tracing the sigils etched into the ancient door.

Adnan watched him closely.

"What did you activate?"

"I don’t know."

"That’s an answer you are giving often."

"I know."

The door finally came to a stop.

A passage yawned ahead, lined with darkness.

There was nothing in the way.

No monster, no trap, nothing that Arin could see.

But the blue light in the distance pulsed.

Once, then again.

Something inside of Arin reacted to the pulse of energy beyond the door.

His Dungeon Sense expanded, the chamber beyond the door revealing itself to him.

A great room opened up, several pillars dotting the space, a dais at the center.

And something more.

Arin’s expression changed as he looked past the doorway.

"There’s something inside."

Ayan joined him.

"What?"

"I’m not sure."

Arin stepped forward.

Saira was right on his heels, and Adnan and Mira brought up the rear.

As soon as Arin passed through the doorway, the blue crystals embedded in the walls flared to life.

More and more of the strange crystalline formations came alight, banishing the darkness.

The room was immeasurably larger than the one they had just left, and unlike the last chamber, this one was clearly man made.

The walls were covered in markings, some similar to what they had seen before, and others that were completely alien.

At the center of the room was a circle set into the floor, and hovering above it was something else entirely.

Arin stopped dead in his tracks.

A tiny crystal floated above the dais, no bigger than his fist.

It was covered in cracks, veins of blue light tracing their way up the fractured surface.

"What is that?" Mira breathed.

Ayan narrowed his eyes at the object.

"That," he said slowly, "is not a Dungeon Core."

Arin took a step closer.

His Dungeon Master’s Mark flared in response, and a System window bloomed before his eyes.

[Remnant detected.]

[Dungeon Authority Remnant.]

[State: Inactive.]

[Original owner: Unknown.]

Arin frowned.

"A Dungeon Authority Remnant."

Adnan arched an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?"

Arin shook his head.

"I don’t know yet."

The warrior took another step closer to the thing hovering above the dais.

The moment he got close enough, the crystal pulsed with blue light, and another window appeared in front of him.

[Dungeon Master Authority detected.]

[Remnant responding to compatible authority.]

Arin hesitated.

"Compatible?"

Ayan’s expression darkened.

"Careful."

Arin turned back to look at him, frowning.

"Did you know about this?"

"No," Ayan said carefully, "but I’ve seen something very similar before."

Arin turned back to the crystal.

"Where?"

"At the last Dungeon Master’s dungeon."

The room fell silent.

Arin turned back to the floating object.

"You’re saying that he had one of these?"

"Something similar," Ayan said as he circled the dais.

"He used fragments of dungeon authority to forge connections between different parts of his dungeon. It let him monitor the different areas, and make adjustments remotely."

Arin crossed his arms.

So that means this could have belonged to him?"

"It could," Ayan agreed.

Saira took a step closer, peering at the strange crystal.

"But you said the markings weren’t the same."

"They weren’t," she said, looking back at Ayan.

"Then whose is it?"

Ayan stiffened. The question clearly bothered him almost as much as it did Arin.

Arin focused his Dungeon Sense on the remnant once again, and it became clearer.

He could feel the authority in it, weak and frayed, but there nonetheless.

It reminded him of something, a memory buried deep within his mind.

There was something left behind, a connection that could still be accessed.

Arin narrowed his eyes.

"There’s a memory inside of it."

The others turned to look at him.

"A memory?"

"Not really," Arin admitted.

He wasn’t sure how to explain what he was feeling, so he settled on the closest thing he could think of.

"It’s like an imprint, a memory of sorts, left behind by its creator."

Adnan stepped closer.

"Can you access it?"

"I don’t know," Arin said, already reaching out to touch the crystal.

"Arin," Ayan warned.

"I’ll be careful," Arin promised, but Ayan shook his head.

"That’s not what I was going to say."

Arin turned to face him.

Ayan’s expression was soft, almost sad.

"The last Dungeon Master always warned me against touching something I didn’t understand."

Arin raised an eyebrow.

"What did he tell you?"

For a long moment, Ayan said nothing at all.

Then, he looked back at the remnant.

"Authority remembers."

Arin turned his gaze towards the object in question.

"Authority remembers..."

Carefully, he reached out and touched the crystal.

The world around him faded away, and he was no longer standing in the strange chamber surrounded by his friends.

Instead, he was in a forest, colossal trees enclosing him on all sides, the sky a brilliant shade of blue.

It felt almost like the Elf Lands back home, but it wasn’t.

A figure emerged from the trees, an elf, younger than Eldran.

He was standing in front of a dungeon entrance, surrounded by other elves, all armed and armored, and carrying great bundles of scrolls and tomes.

A researcher.

Without realizing it, Arin was gazing at the memory as if he were seeing it through the elf’s eyes.

"We’ve found another fluctuation," the young elf said.

One of the other elves frowned.

"Another?"

The researcher nodded.

"It was the same one that appeared at the northern dungeon three months ago."

"Sindra’s dungeon," one of the elves muttered.

"Could it be the Dungeon Master?"

The elf didn’t answer for a long moment.

Then, he shook his head.

"We don’t know.

The image wavered, and suddenly, the elf was inside the dungeon, standing in front of the same sort of circular structure that was currently hovering above the dais in the chamber.

But this one wasn’t broken.

It was whole, glowing with power.

Another figure stood beside the elf, a human.

Arin’s heart pounded.

He recognized the man, but then his vision blurred, and he could no longer see the stranger’s face.

The human placed a hand against the wall, and the dungeon reacted, the great structure pulsing with power.

The elf stumbled backwards.

"What is happening?"

The man’s voice was calm, controlled.

"The authority is changing."

"Changing into what?"

"I don’t know."

The vision wavered again, and a voice, not the elf’s, not the human’s, but something else entirely, spoke.

"Leave it."

The human went rigid, and the elf spun around.

"Who said that?"

A shadow swallowed the vision, and then it was over.

Arin gasped as he was thrown back into the chamber.

Mira was already at his side, steadying him as he stumbled.

Ayan caught him before he hit the ground again.

"What happened?" Arin managed to get out.

Ayan helped him to his feet.

"I saw something," Arin said, his gaze falling to the crystal.

"A memory.

It... belonged to someone who studied this dungeon."

Eldran wasn’t here, but Arin had the distinct sense that the Chief would have liked to have been.

There were simply too many questions.

"What did you see?" Adnan asked.

Arin told them, the vision replaying in his head like a film.

The elf researchers, the strange fluctuation of energy at the last dungeon.

The human with the indistinct face, and the words that still echoed in Arin’s memory.

When he was done speaking, Ayan turned his gaze back to the remnant.

"The last Dungeon Master?" Arin asked.

Ayan’s answer was immediate.

"The figure didn’t sound like him."

Arin nodded.

"I know.

Saira looked uneasy.

"So who was it?"

No one had an answer for her.

Arin was staring intently at the crystal, watching the light die out behind its fractured surface.

Wait, he thought suddenly.

He took a step closer, and the System window appeared again.

[Warning.]

[Dungeon Authority Remnant destabilizing.]

[Residual information becoming inaccessible.]

Arin’s eyes widened.

"Can I save it?"

[Insufficient authority.]

Arin clenched his fist.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

The System said nothing more.

Arin narrowed his eyes at the remnant, already sensing something else within it, something else connected to it.

Not the dungeon or the chamber above them.

Deeper.

Far deeper than anything they had seen yet.

"This isn’t the source," Arin muttered.

Ayan turned to face him.

"What?"

"The remnant.

It’s connected to something else."

Arin concentrated, expanding his senses until he could feel the energy threading its way through the chamber, the dungeon, and down through the lower levels as well.

Something else was down there.

Not a monster or a Dungeon Core, but something similar.

Arin opened his eyes.

"There’s another one."

Adnan frowned.

"Another remnant?"

"I think so," Arin said.

Ayan’s expression darkened.

"How far?"

Arin closed his eyes once again, focusing on the tendril of energy that snaked its way into the depths below.

The sensation was growing weaker the farther down it went, until something blocked his senses.

Not a wall, not even a monster, but something else entirely.

His Dungeon Sense was being blocked.

Ayan looked up at the ceiling.

"I can’t reach it."Then someone doesn’t want you to," Ayan murmured.

Arin met his gaze.

Before anyone could say anything else, the crystal let out a sharp crack.

CRACK.

A thin line appeared across its surface, and another, and suddenly the blue light within it began to fade.

Arin stepped forward.

"Wait!"

The remnant exploded in his hand, scattering the blue shards of crystal across the floor before they vanished altogether.

The others stood in stunned silence as Arin stared at the empty patch of stone where the object used to be.

They’d lost it, but it wasn’t like it hadn’t been a loss.

This dungeon wasn’t just a hiding place for ancient artifacts.

Someone had been here, studying the Dungeon Authority.

Someone who had taken notice of the disturbances occurring in other dungeons, and who had wiped away any sign of their presence.

Arin turned to face the doorway.

"We need to go deeper," he said.

Ayan looked at him.

"You’re sure?"

"No," Arin admitted, tightening his grip on his sword.

"But if that remnant was connected to something below us, I need to know what it was connected to."

Saira nodded.

"Then we’ll find it."

Adnan allowed himself a small smile.

"I suppose we’re going deeper."

Mira let out a long suffering sigh.

"Why does it always seem like the moment we say that, everything takes a turn for the worse?"

Arin turned back to look at the doorway.

Because beneath the elven dungeon was something else, something else that had been waiting for a Dungeon Master to appear.

Something that would change what they knew forever.

The blue crystals that lined the chamber suddenly went dark, and deep below them, something else was awakening.

And this time, Arin could sense it.

Three pulses of Dungeon Authority, and then a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth.

Someone, or something, was watching him.

Waiting.