7 in 3

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Scarlet

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God… Why is there blood all over the ground? Why am I laying on the ground? What is on top of me?! I swing my arm out from behind me, smacking something leafy. The weight shifts towards my head and my view is suddenly filled with a brown bark-covered snout. 

“Hack, get off.” Hack tilts his head at me before hopping down in front of me. I start to push myself off the floor when I notice the boots behind my arboreal lizard. With a glance up I confirm there is a man staring down at me. 

I squeal and cover myself up with my arms the best I can. “Close your eyes, you pervert!” The armored man stands, looking blank-faced at me for a moment before blinking and turning away. 

Now that I have some privacy I need to find clothes. I look around the hall I’m in, noticing not even a scrap of cloth. “Hey, guy, where did the clothes I had on go?” 

Silence fills the dingy hallway until the man finally decides to answer. “Lord Coil was wearing clothes he made.” 

What the hell… since when did Coil know how to sew? I let out a sigh before standing up, covering my chest with one arm. “Go outside, okay?” I try to order the guy. 

He quickly shakes his head. “I have to guard you, Miss… Which Holdings child are you, Miss?” 

The guy knows how we work? I stare daggers at the man. What else does he know? “Well, keep your eyes off me, I’m gonna steal some clothes from here if I can find any.” The back of the man’s head finally nods. I move past him, pushing into a larger living space. The place we’re in looks like it’s probably owned by wealthier commoners, maybe merchants. I find a dresser in the corner of the room and scrounge through it.

I try on some of the dresses and skirts inside the thing but none fit. Eventually I cave and throw on some men’s clothes from a nearby pile. Whatever… I call out to my unknown companion,“You can look now.” While I walk back to him I notice dark crust and sand coating the floor in the hall. “What happened here?” 

The man turns and looks at me. “Monsters.” Wow, thanks, man. What a helpful answer. I start to sigh, but then stop, realizing something horribly wrong with the man’s words. Focusing a bit, I can clearly feel the gentle pressure of the barrier against my consciousness. 

“How are there monsters inside the barrier?” The man shrugs at me. “Who are you, anyways?” I look closer at the guy, noticing his lighter-than-average complexion. 

“I am Knight Porter, Miss…” He looks at me pleadingly. 

Fine, I’ll tell him.“I’m Scarlet, Porter.” 

He quickly nods before kneeling. “I am Knight Porter, Lady Scarlet. I’ve been appointed as your personal knight, please consider me your sword and shield.” I watch the stoic and tightlipped man suddenly do something long winded and theatrical. 

I lean slightly, looking behind him. “But you only have an axe.” 

My words cause the slightest scowl to crack his concrete expression. “I usually… would also have a sword.” The scowling knight clarifies no further. Okay, whatever. I move past him and open the door, causing Hack to chase after me. The moment the door creaks open I hear the sounds of battle in the distance.

I start heading towards the noise, winding through alleyways and abandoned buildings. My new personal knight keeps up with me, as does my stupid lizard. Soon enough we round a corner, bringing the fight into view.

The face of the townheart looms over everything from the other side of a large clearing between the buildings. The ground is several feet above our heads, being made of mostly rubble and buried buildings. I notice shards of the townheart littering the rubble.

I focus, quickly sensing some nearby weeds. I activate my blessing, causing a massive stalk to shoot from the ground in front of us. After it has grown a few feet into the air, a large leaf unfurls before me and Porter. I step on it, testing its strength.

“C’mon, Porter, get on.” I motion the expressionless knight to follow me as I step onto the leaf with me. Once he’s aboard the plant begins to grow again. In no time we’re standing level with the top of the debris field. Once I step off the plant and allow it to wither, I scan the area for the source of the noises.

I don’t immediately see the battle, instead noticing something dark marring the side of the townheart. Looking closer at the massive crystal itself, I realize there's windows set inside a crater in the crystal’s side. Near the base of the windows, in a half circle, is a large group of knights. Their formation is tight, so I can’t see what it is they’re fighting. 

We sprint towards the action. Once we reach the outer edge of the knight’s half-circle I start to catch glimpses of their enemies. That can’t be right, it looks as if they’re attacking civilians. 

“What are you doing?” I shout over the din of clashing metal. Some of the nearest knights spin around, guarding against us. Why are they suspicious of me? 

“Stand back or we’ll attack!” one of the knights yells at us. The younger man’s voice is clearly shaking.

“What’s going on? I’m Scarlet Holdings, who are you?” I try to use the noble voice that I’ve practiced with Baroness Wilma. Surprisingly the knights don’t lower their weapons and continue to guard against us. 

“You hear what I said, Miss!” The knight tries to sound intimidating, but instead comes off as terrified. “You could be one of those things.” His voice peters out to a squeak. I look over at Porter questioningly. 

“The monsters were mimicking a woman and her child. Lord Coil and I dispatched them.” 

I feel anger biting at my rationality. “You just told me this now, why?” I snap a bit at the tight-lipped knight. 

He shrugs at my question.“You never asked.” I swear I see the tiniest hint of smirk on the moron's face. Just in case… Roots explode from the ground and wrap around Porter before he can pull his axe off his back. I make sure that he’s not comfortable before I turn back to the shaking knight.

“Can the monsters do this?” I motion to the vine pillar containing Porter. The scared knights lower their weapons.

“I’m sorry, Lady Scarlet, we just couldn’t be sure.” The man’s voice has steadied significantly. I walk up to him, leaving Porter in time-out. I look the knight over, seeing that, according to his uniform, he’s a recruit.

“What is your name, recruit, and why are you here?” The man’s eyes are glued to the ring on my hand, which is, as always, glowing a light blue. 

“I’m Private Mim, and my squad was sent here to deal with holding the monsters back until more squads can arrive.” Mim looks exhausted, covered in sweat, as do the other nearby knights. “These things have been fighting non-stop, and are too tough for us to kill. We’re hoping to hold out until someone stronger can make it.” 

I sigh and snap my fingers. In the near distance the roots holding Porter recede into the ground. The freed knight falls to the ground, landing gracefully. I wave him over. Once Porter reaches us I motion to him. “This is Knight Porter, do you know him?” 

Mim’s eyes go wide as he smiles brightly. “Knight Porter? From the slum squad?” Adoration is written all over the guy’s face. Porter just nods. “Yes, I know him, he’s famous for sparring with Captain Jet.” I glance over to Porter curiously. He fights Captain Jet? He’s much too skinny for that to be true.

“Well, let us into your gladiatorial ring there, we’ll give you guys a hand.” I point behind Private Mim, at the half-circle formation. For a moment the knight looks unsure, as if he’s going to say no, but ends up stepping aside. I push my way to the front of the group, my head poking out above most of theirs. 

Now that I have a better view I can see that while the monsters look like civilians they’re also covered in blades. The things are easily countering every attack sent their way, only being held back by the squad’s sheer numbers. 

I crouch down and pet Hack, who happily wags his tail at my affection. “Sorry, boy, I think it's time I try this.” I put both of my hands on my pet’s back. I feel energy leech from my hands as I activate ‘Nurture’ and my blessing simultaneously. The magic flows into Hack, who tilts his head in confusion.

Small offshoots start to grow from the bark that is Hack’s skin. The shoots rapidly expand, until Hack is a writhing mass of wood and leaves. The blob of plantlife quickly grows in size until it's the size of a carriage. The suddenly appearing wood pushes back both the closest monsters and knights. 

The twisted knot of roots and stems finally stops expanding, and starts to slither into shape. The vague shape of Hack starts to reappear, quickly followed by new additions. Instead of Hack’s normal leafy ears there is instead a bed of thorns covering his head. His mouth is filled with even more thorns which are standing in for teeth. His berry eyes are now the size of oranges, and bright red as well. The tree-creature’s legs end with massive roots, which sharpen to points at each end.

Hack stands before the throng, easily over ten times his original size. Once his body stops shifting, two large buds sprout on his back. The massive bulbs mature rapidly until they explosively bloom. From Hack’s back shoot two giant wings, made of huge flower petals. He flaps his new appendages, pushing air away from him. His now large head looks down at me and his tongue lolls out. 

I start to cackle like a witch. A dragon! A dragon? I made one? For real? I feel my face aching from how hard I’m smiling. I made a dragon, holy shit! I spin around in place in excitement. My enjoyment is suddenly shattered by a polite cough behind me.

Feeling the joy leave me, I turn to my personal knight. “The monsters, Lady Scarlet?” Oh right… The monsters. I turn back to my dragon.

“Hack, buddy, can you kill those monsters for me?” I point at the apparent civilians, who, like the knights, are staring at the suddenly appeared dragon. Hack turns his head to gaze at the monsters before looking back at me. His eyes are completely devoid of complex thought. 

The dragon wags its massive tail before letting out an excited roar.

【〓〓〓〓】

 

My heart fills with affection for my previously small friend as he stomps around crushing the look-alikes. I don’t know how he knows which are real, but he’s purposefully avoiding the knights who are also in battle. He’s crushed a few creatures that had disguised themselves as knights, even. At least I hope they were… 

A number of the mimics have climbed onto Hack’s back and they’re swinging away at the bark covering him. Hack doesn’t even flinch as the silver blades bite into his wooden flesh, so I’m assuming it must not hurt. Or not enough for him to care, at least.

A blurry shape flashes past me, heading straight towards my dragon. When it hits the dragon’s back I see that it’s Porter. The knight takes it upon himself to remove the human-shaped pests from our rampaging friend. I watch as he cleaves the distracted monsters in half. Man, he moves so fast, how’d I even snare him earlier… He didn’t let me, right?

After the last of the hitchhiking doppelgangers are cleaved by the large greataxe Porter jumps down to the ground. He returns to my side silently, with his ever-present blank stare. What’s with Father’s knights? Hack repeatedly stomps on the smear that was the final monster, seemingly disappointed that he ran out of prey, or maybe toys. Eventually the leafy lizard gives up on trying to extract any more fun from the monster residue and turns to Porter and me. 

He snaps his jaws at me excitedly before he starts to lose the details of his face. The eyes and snout of my pet slowly lose their shape, returning to an indiscriminate mass of vines and bark. The dragon shaped mass of wood starts to retract, each coiled trunk pulling inwards like a retreating snake. Eventually the thing manages to get back to Hack’s original size. Hack’s features quickly return, but much smaller than his dragon self.

My violence-enriched lizard totters over to me, clumsily stopping by ramming into my shins. I grab the brat and hold him before turning towards my chaperone. 

“So, Porter. Is that a dungeon?” I point at the crater in the townheart wall. Recessed into the cracked gemface is an orderly line of windows, with a set of doors centered between. Assuming one row of windows is a floor, there’s at least four. 

The knight nods. “I don’t understand how it got there though, my lady.” I give Porter a nod. A dungeon shouldn’t be able to appear within a barrier, it’s unprecedented as far as I know. Running through the history I’ve learned so far I can’t come up with anything even similar. 

I sigh. “We should go inside. The two of us may not get far, but we can get in there. None of these knights are qualified.” I point back at the group of armored men sitting on the ground. The lot of them are crusted with sweat and blood. A large group lay on blankets from who knows where, and are being treated by a medic. Luckily I don’t see any bodies.

Porter interrupts my thoughts. “Isn’t that irresponsible, my lady?” Shockingly his one eyebrow is raised at me. 

“Well, of course it is, but what if the dungeon is shallow? We could get rid of it before the next wave of monsters is birthed. It would be better for everyone if we could manage that.” I frown, knowing damn well that it’s unlikely to be shallow enough for us to pull it off. But… I really want to see the inside.

Porter nods without moving any facial muscles. Maybe his face is paralyzed. I order Hack to stay with the knights and to protect them from monsters. The small lizard is hesitantly staying, his body tensed trying to stop himself from following. Not wanting to waste his effort I make for the dungeon entrance.

 

【〓〓〓〓】

 

Soon enough, the two of us are looking up at the many windows of the dungeon. As we approached I realized that the windows were all missing their glass. The ground around us is covered in shards, most likely the former windows. The metal double doors are ripped open, pulled apart and bent. The monsters must’ve pushed their way out then. 

Immediately inside the entrance is what looks like a bar counter with a window above it. On the other side of the glass is a large room filled with metal desks and strange looking chairs. The chairs remind me of the king’s, having wheels on the bottom of the legs. Maybe I could steal one away after this is all over. 

Walking further into the tall and wide main hall we’re soon covered in darkness. The lights in the ceiling don’t seem to be working. If only we had that glowing moss from the Unrak cave… I wonder… I quickly activate the sigil laid into my arm and display my status. I flick through the menus, eventually finding the list of abilities I have access to. Skimming the list, I finally come to an ability that serves my purpose.

I raise my hand up to my shirt and focus on what the luminous moss looked like. ‘Transplant’ magic leaks from my hand and spreads over the crude top I’m wearing. Slowly a small amount of light starts to leak from the shirt. The growth of the moss speeds up and covers the entirety of my upper chest. 

‘Transplant, success. Luminous Moss added to personal database,’ a voice other than Coil’s rings out clear in my mind. I ignore it, since it’s such a mundane message. The hall is now glowing with a pale green light. I move over to the wall of the tunnel-like passage.

The wall is covered in what seems to be paper. The many pieces of paper have crude drawings scrawled on them. Why would anyone put such awful art on their walls? Letters I don’t know line the top of the wooden board the drawings are attached to. Too bad Pim isn’t out, she could read this stuff. 

I call Porter over and point out the artwork. “What do you make of this?” 

The man’s face moves slightly, moving into the barest suggestion of a smile. “It reminds me of the drawings the other kids would draw in the dirt.” Just as quickly as it appeared, the smile vanishes. Why would there be kids in a dungeon? Without any clear answers we headed deeper into the .

The main hall connected to the entrance just keeps going. It occasionally turns, but we can tell which way is meant to be the main hall due to its width. I finally lose patience with the neverending metal and concrete tube and walk to a random door leading off the hallway. I swing open the door and step inside.

“Welcome, visitor!” a woman’s voice calls out from inside the room, startling me. I, of course, am totally cool about it and make no embarrassing noises. I look around trying to find the speaker. Porter looks at me, waiting for my decision.

“Hello? Who are you?” I call out to the woman.

“Hello, visitor, what can I help you with?” The voice is clear, with no sign of stress or fear. She’s just sitting in total darkness inside a dungeon?

I try to bait the likely monster into the open. “I’d like to see you.” 

“Understood, one moment.” A loud clunk comes from somewhere deeper into the dungeon, making the floor shake slightly. I hope the townheart can take that. Suddenly, with a loud click, the entire room is drenched in bright, white light. I squint my eyes against the sudden assault. 

While my eyes are still adjusting, Porter calls out to me, “My lady, what’s happening?” 

“You heard what I asked.” I feel confusion creep into my mind.

“My lady, you’ve been speaking gibberish, as has the other woman.” What? Gibberish? Oh right, the gift of gab. I didn’t expect it to work on others, besides the Unrak. 

After my eyes finally adjust, I look around the room. Like the first by the entrance, this room is filled with peculiar chairs and metal desks. These desks are totally buried in papers and books. One wall is covered by a large flat pane of black glass. I move towards it to look closer.

The pane lights up, turning the color of the wall behind it. In the center of the object a blue ring appears, gently pulsing. 

“Hello visitor, can you see better now?” The woman’s voice pours out of the glass.

“What are you?” I unintentionally ask. The blue ring pulses along with the woman's voice.

“I am the secretarial AI for the-” the woman is interrupted by a hissing sound for a moment, “grade school. What can I do for you?” Ignoring the strange hissing, only part of that answer made any sense. 

“A school? This is a school? How can kids be here?” The blue circle turns a light orange and spins slowly.

“Yes, this is a school, which currently has zero children enrolled. Error, attendance database is empty. Error, backup database is empty. Error, diagnostics show no abnormalities. Conclusion, this school has not yet been used,” the woman spews a string of barely understandable phrases. 

The words I can understand but she’s talking about technical knowledge of some kind, so without context it's useless. I try to get anything useful out of this thing. “Do you have any idea how you got inside Wornsbirth’s townheart?” 

“Error, current location intended to be Irkleburg, Montana. Please confirm the current location.” I decide to humor her, and tell her where she is again. “Inappropriate location, trying to access the internet. Failure to connect to external network, wired connection disconnected. Attempting to connect to a wireless network.” She starts rambling about nonsense, so I decide to ignore her. I start to shuffle through the papers on the desks nearby. The words are all unintelligible to me, so my gift from the Unraks only works verbally, I guess. 

“My Lady, what did you learn from the strange device?” 

I give my head a shake. “Nothing much, this is supposedly a school, but it's never been used.” I look through the nearest book, which has geographical maps of places I don’t recognize. “She says this place should be somewhere called Montana. God knows how it got here.” As I put the book down the room is filled with a gentle dinging sound.

“Connection successful, decrypting network… successful. Attempting to validate location… confirmed. Current location, Wornsbirth of the Gemshell kingdom. Error, no such place exists. Updating database…”

The disembodied voice is beginning to irritate me. I walk through the door we entered from and return to the main hall. Now that the lights are on, the hallway looks completely different. The walls are made of a smooth, tan material. Not wood, but not stone either. The floor is covered with black and white tiling, which appears to be made of metal. I’m starting to understand why dungeons are kept around occasionally. 

We start down the singular path again, occasionally seeing more of the drawings from earlier. In the light the drawings are clearly drawn with bright colors, instead of being indiscernible. I smile at the crudely drawn animals.

Besides the drawings, there are occasional groups of portraits. The details on them are amazing. While we wander the passage, admiring the oddities, a thought strikes me. Where are the monsters? Don’t dungeons have monsters falling out of every nook and cranny? 

“Porter, where are all the monsters?” 

Porter meets my gaze and shrugs. “Maybe they all left.” 

All of them? There would have to be several hundred. The ones outside numbered barely a hundred. The ones outside… also looked like people. My gut drops.

“Porter, does every monster in a dungeon attack humans on sight?” God, please say yes, please. 

He shakes his head. “In the dungeon I went in recently, the ones that didn’t attack were the smarter ones. Ones that realize they had no chance, or didn’t want to risk it. That’s what it seemed like, anyways.” 

My heart fills with dread. “So Porter, what if some of the monsters that left ate one person, and then just walked into the town? Is that likely?” I look at his unchanging face, shocked to see his complexion become sickly. 

“That’s more than likely, my lady. There are sure to be monsters that realized the situation, considering the intelligence of the ones we fought.” I groan in frustration at the knight’s blunt answer.

Suddenly the lights in the hallway dim and are joined by a red glow. “Attention, all personnel, intruders detected throughout basement level one. Please be advised, security personnel have been informed. That is all.” The woman’s voice fills the hall, coming from the ceiling. I'm pretty sure this isn't a basement, so there’s someone besides us here? I turn to Porter.

“We should find some stairs.”