The Emerald Palace, Capitol of Pelemonte.
Dante paced down the beautiful hallways of the Emerald Palace. A pensive expression on his face. Servants scurried to make way for their Prince, but he hardly noticed. His thoughts were on more important things, such as, the recent siege and the disappearance of Great-Black. What could of possibly caused one of the most feared creatures in history to flee? Dante shook his head in frustration, the last several months had been one disaster after another. He was very worried about the possible return of the Wyrmkin. Luckily, reinforcements had arrived, and other major cities in Pelemonte had been preparing as well. He knew even if they didn't attack again, they would need dealt with sooner, rather than later. The safety of the continent depended on it.
He ran his hands through his thick black hair, letting his warrior's braid fall free. He grimaced, causing the scar across his lip to tighten. Dante wore a loose fitting, white cotton shirt. Embroidered with golden stitching. He wore black, Skag's skin trousers and tall leather boots. His green eyes were a sharp contrast from his black skin. He truly cut a noble figure in his attire. His sword rested in it's scabbard, it's emerald hilt shining brightly in the light filled corridor.
His thoughts were disturbed when Commander Locke grabbed his shoulders. "My Prince, a word?" Dante nodded and followed Locke down the hall. Locke led them into the War Room, a place Dante had been spending too much time as of late. To his surprise, the room was empty. Locke didn't stop in the War Room either, instead, he walked right past the round table. Dante watched in confusion as Locke placed both of his hands on the wall, his face lit in awe as blue energy flowed through Locke's hands, into the walls.
The wall rumbled and began to sink into the the floor, revealing a dark stairwell. Locke looked over his shoulder, a grim expression on his dark face. "Come along now, my Prince." Dante took a deep breath, and nodded. He had no idea this room existed, or that the Commander; he had known for his whole life, was capable of using magic. Locke's wiry frame descended into the darkness. Dante hurried to follow the him.
The stairwell was dark, damp, and humid. Condensation had formed on the walls, and the moisture in the air cause Dante's shirt to stick to his skin. "Where are we going?" Dante couldn't help but ask, his curiosity and nerves were getting the best of him. He missed a step and nearly went tumbling down, but managed to right himself on the wall.
"You will see," Locke shrugged and continued his steady descent. Dante paused, the usually staunch Commander had never been so informal with Dante, nor secretive. Dante swallowed his nerves and continued to follow Locke, he knew that if something could cause the fearless Commander to behave so strangely, then he should truly be wary.
It took Dante ten more minutes of stumbling in the dark and humid stairwell, to reach the bottom. As he stepped off the bottom step, he was greeted by a long corridor. Locke didn't wait for his Prince to get acclimated, instead, he marched onward down the dark passage. As he led the Prince, his mind focused on the next few minutes. He hoped his Prince would accept what was about to happen.
Dante tried his best to examine the walls of the corridor in the dark, it was challenging, but he was able to make out several runes. One that really caught his eye, was a rune that had long ago been branded into his body. Elder Guard. He traced the boiled flesh on his bicep, a reminder of the day he lost his brother. He shivered and continued forward, he couldn't help but dread the unknown.
It had taken them just a few minutes to reach the end of the dark passage. At the end, was a large door; magical runes were carved into the steel. These runes were ones he did not recognize, except for the 'Elder God' rune. "Step back please." Dante backed away without question. He watched in a daze as Locke's scarred hands were placed down on the steel. That strange blue magic appeared at his fingertips, the old door began to creak and open. Dante frowned, he had never heard of a mortal being able to harness energy like Locke just had. It was well known throughout the countries that mortals could not use magic in the same fashion as the Ancient Ones. Instead, they focused on channeling it through spells, items, and tomes.
His train of thought evaporated as the door finally swung open. His jaw nearly hit the floor in shock. On the other side of the door was a giant chamber. It was well lit, and not nearly as humid as the stairwell had been. In the middle of the chamber was a glass pillar, it spiraled all the way up to the peak of the dome. Inside of the pillar, blue energy swirled wildly, it was unharnessed and raw. The energy would crackle and pop, but never once threatened the integrity of the glass. Below the pillar, on the ground, was what appeared to be a bed. Instead, it had wires hanging from it, as well as straps.
He finally forced his eyes from the raw magic, to scan the rest of the room. On the far right side, stood a large bookshelf. It was filled with ancient tomes, their backs lined with runes. On the left side sat a table, much like the one in the war room. The only difference was, a giant mirror had been built into the center of the table. His eyes wandered to opposite side of the room, there was a vast armory. Beautiful swords, axes, sabers, bows, and spears hung from the walls. They were all intricately crafted, Dante felt his mouth beginning to water. Next he examined the armor racks. Finely crafted and beautiful armor rested on them. The variety was astounding: light armor, scale armor, plate armor, and black armor with blue runes engraved across it.
Dante turned to Locke, a serious expression on his face. "Well, Commander. Are you going to tell me what the fuck all of this is?"
Locke had finished examining the room as well, he nodded and turned to the Prince. "Dante. Welcome to the chamber of the Elder Guard." He waved his hands around, motioning to the large chamber.
"Why the hell didn't I know about this place!" He seethed, his awe had quickly been replaced with anger. This wonderful room had been here all this time, and not once had he heard of it's existence. He knew that the Elder Guard guarded some legendary 'secret', but he just assumed it was more of a 'defend the country' deal.
Locke smiled, which really set Dante on edge. The Commander rarely smiled, those rare occasions came in the midst of bloody combat. "Follow me, my Prince. I believe it's time you know the truth of the Elder Guard."
****
Dungeon of Calamity, The Shredded Isles.
He crept quietly through the numerous, dark chambers. He would occasionally stumble across one of the mutants, terrible beasts with no visible face and long, bony limbs. These creatures had excellent hearing. It was believe that mutants could hear the heartbeat of any creature. That thought sent shivers down the spine of the Elven Monk.
He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing creeping through an ancient dungeon that had long ago fallen dormant. All he knew was that Mephu ordered him to reach it's heart. That alone was enough to make Te'gun wary; when a God assigned you a mission, it was rarely a trivial matter. Te'gun rolled behind a stone wall, temporarily stopping his heartbeat. Cold sweat slid down his tanned cheek. A mutant stalked through the chamber behind him, it's bony ears twitching, attempting to locate prey.
Te'gun refused to move, he felt himself getting light headed. Stopping one's heartbeat was something every monk of the Order learned to do when they were training. It was important incase of being poisoned. Stopping one's heart, prevented the poison from being pumped deeper into the bloodstream. It was recommended that this never last longer than a minute. Te'gun was beginning to understand why. Thankfully, the Mutant had wandered away. Te'gun inhaled sharply, his blood circulating again. "That was close." He sighed in relief.
After a moment of reprieve, Te'gun was again creeping down into the depths of the dungeon. It was said at one time, when the Gods had truly been at the height of their power, dungeons could be found all across Telon. They granted mortals the power to stand up to the Gods themselves. That thought made Te'gun frown, he knew it must be true; he was standing in one of the most legendary dungeons ever claimed. It had long ago been lost to time, but the Monks of the Order kept tabs on it. Luckily, while the Gods slumbered, so too did their magic. This made it impossible for a dungeon to be claimed; who knew what could of happened if mortals had been left to contend with a mad Dungeon Master.
He shook his head and placed any unnecessary thoughts for later. Right now, he had a mission to complete.
It took him several hours to creep through the seemingly endless passages of the dungeon. Several times he had to stop his heart, while a Mutant wandered by. Luckily for him, he not once had to engage the horrific beasts in combat. He may be both a blade's master and martial artist, but he wasn't confident he could take a Mutant on by himself. Stories told of a being who gained control of the dungeon, he used the mutants in battle; they decimated the enemy forces, leaving nothing in their wake.
Te'gun had finally reached what he assumed was the dungeon core, a dungeon's place of power. The room was dark, and red veins of magic ran through the floor. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling, they pulsed with ambient light. Te'gun gulped, the dungeons truly were active again. He was beginning to understand why Mephu was ordering them to destroy all 'evil' dungeons. They could not afford for the Dungeon of Calamity, to fall into the wrong hands.
Te'gun examined the dungeon core, not really sure how he was supposed to go about this. Mephu had told them to 'utterly destroy' them, but he never explained how that was to be accomplished. That left Te'gun in a tricky situation. He had two options: channel his energy into the core, or use brute force to destroy it. He sighed, "I hope this works."
Te'gun's body lit brightly, golden light snaked across his body, down into the core. It was believed by most nations that only Ancient Ones could use their magic in this way, but Te'gun knew better. Any being with proper training, could channel their magic through their body. As he thought this, his energy was rapidly being taken into the core. Sweat began to roll down his cheeks, he couldn't stop his energy now. It was being consumed rapidly, much too rapidly.
He felt his body beginning to weaken, never had he channeled this much energy. In fact, he never knew he had this much energy to begin with. His body began to feel weak, his thoughts became sluggish. Just when he thought he couldn't take it any longer, the core stopped consuming his energy. He groaned and collapsed onto the ground, he lazily covered his eyes as the dungeon core exploded in a flash of brilliant, golden light. Silence presided over the dungeon.
Te'gun's eyes jerked open, a strange expression on his face. He struggled to regain his composure, his body was still incredibly weak. It took all of his strength to force himself into a standing position. He stumbled over to the wall, and landed heavily against it, using it to support him. He forced his head to look up. He blinked. A tall, muscular Elf stood in front of him. He had long white hair, and golden eyes. A pleasant smile appeared on his face, as if he was seeing an old friend again. The Elf bowed deeply, leaving Te'gun in shock. "Welcome Master Sha'Tu, to the Dungeon of Justice."
Te'gun's jaw dropped, "That's definitely not what I expected to happen."