Zeke realized that he was no longer able to continue the conversation with Hawke so he said his farewell and finally went back to his farm. There, he waited patiently for his farmhands to arrive.
The farmhands all came back at the same time from their designated tasks just before the meet up time. They all went back to their rooms in a hurry to prepare themselves for the expedition. Zeke already has his weapon settled nicely behind on his back and a basic leather armor were also laid out on the couch of the living room which he is now wearing.
They said that it'll suffice for now because he will be able to buy a proper armor of his own later when he has gained some personal funds.
Zeke checked the clock situated on the wall of the living room and it is now seven in the morning so he still have half an hour to prepare before they finally set off for the dungeon, he relaxed himself a bit.
After a whole five minutes, all four of them have gathered around him and eagerly ready to depart.
"Alright, everyone listen," Wulfric started with a commanding tone, "before we begin the expedition, we must exercise caution at all times even if it feels like we are not in grave danger. Listen to my commands for now, as proxy for our boss which we all know is still new to new to the dangers of the dungeon, so we as veterans of this world with our experience should show him the ropes, for in future expeditions he will be the one leading us. Understood?"
"Affirmative," all three said in unison.
"Good," he replied then turned to Zeke, his relaxed eyebrows slowly frowning, "boss, I insist that you to stay close to me or anyone during the whole duration of this expedition."
"Do not, in under any circumstances, try to touch anything unless we determine that it is okay to do so. As you can clearly tell, we, you and us, are all going in blind forward, us farmhands have no prior experience with Tenebrae for reasons already revealed to you. So always, and I mean always stay vigilant, do you understand boss?"
"Yes... yes.. I understand," Zeke answered breathing deeply but with quiet determination. This is it, the moment of truth, it is a little bit surprising that despite the dangers, he is quite calm about the whole situation, maybe it's because he knows that he has four dependable companions at his side. He smiled, content that he's finally doing something, something that only he can do, something of great importance.
"Alright, let's move out," Wulfric commanded.
Zeke and the boys heads out of the house and made their way towards the mysterious dungeon, Tenebrae.
The way to Tenebrae isn't really that far as it is situated in the middle of a vast forest directly behind the house of the farm. Zeke could already see a glimpse of the towering dungeon from afar, and as soon as he left the farm he could feel quiet vibrations rising up from the ground as if… as if telling him to come and traverse the mysterious dungeon. Zeke gulped nervously then continued to walk with his group.
"Here we are," Wulfric gestured at the place as he turns to look at Zeke, then back at the enormous ancient looking building in front of him.
Zeke took a good look of the place. The dungeon is standing tall at the center of the forest, dead trees and dried leaves are scattered all over the place. The ground almost feels like it's dead from the way the it looks, dried up and brittle witch each step. Zeke can feel life fading away as he gets nearer the dungeon, and the place looks almost out of place because of the way it's situated in the middle of the clearing.
It is a known fact that this dungeon always seems to reappear every end of a century and it is said in the handbook that when it is thoroughly explored by a farmer, it'll remain hidden for as long as the said farmer is alive then it'll resurface just like what's in front of him right now.
All of the secrets of this dungeon are only remembered by the farmer that he or she must take to the grave. Zeke wondered the reason why?
While lost in his own thoughts he almost tripped over a hilt of a rusted blade which juts out of the ground, half of it's body buried underground. Zeke looked around and saw that there are several other weapons and equipment lying on the ground, some of them almost entirely broken.
It feels as if the whole scene is the aftermath of a great war but with fewer weapons strewn about, making them look like a sort of pathway towards the entrance of the dungeon.
Zeke can feel an eerie aura coming off of the dungeon, and he couldn't help but shake involuntarily. The boys looked at him, worry obvious from their faces, including Hawke. "Are you alright, boss?" Magnus asked as he put his hand on Zeke's shoulder.
"Yes, urk... don't worry about me."
Zeke managed to look at the dungeon again, the exterior consists of several stone slabs that looks old with dead vines growing out of the narrow tight space between each stones. The architecture of the dungeon almost like a fortress, and it looks quite ancient but still sturdy. There are several sconces hanging on the wall of the dungeon that contains a flame of a bluish color, making the place appear eerie even in broad daylight.
The huge opened entrance to the dungeon emanates a strange faint glowing light with a purple hue, while enormous and wide windows are barred with metal grills preventing anyone from coming in. The place looks much like a castle rather than a dungeon.
The shuffling of bag beside Zeke broke his train of thought. It looks like the boys are ready to move inside and was just waiting for his initiative. Zeke tugged his rucksack to firmly secure it on his back then he started walking towards the entrance with Wulfric at his side, stoic expression but with a new wary demeanor, the other three not too far behind him.
"This is it Zeke, no turning back now," Zeke wills himself up while tapping both his cheeks.
As he stood right in front of the eerie entrance, he could now feel the barrier that the Mayor was talking about. His farmhands surrounds him, looking at him intently as they wait for him to do something, anything to remove the pesky barrier.
He gingerly held out his hand as he tries to get a feel of where the barrier is exactly located. He finally touched the hard solid barrier and right as he was about to remove his hand, a mysterious mark which resembles a sword and a hoe that are crossed with each other suddenly appeared from the back of his right hand. It glows and blinks as he felt the mark resonate immensely with the barrier, emitting burst of intense light which caused the barrier to dissipate.
All the men went immediately to his side, making sure he's fine.
"God, that was fun," Dirk said while looking at the place where the barrier used to be, "you know boss I had my doubts, but I'm pretty sure you can handle yourself pretty well." He grinned then puts both of his arms behind his head.
"Right, I knew you had it in you boss," Magnus agrees then nods to himself.
"Hm. Not bad, still that's to be expected," Hawke retorted dryly, barely looks at him then fixes his gaze on the dungeon.
Wulfric grabbed Zeke checking if there's something wrong then closes his eyes sighing. "Boss, let's get going, we don't have all day." He said while waiting for Zeke's final word, stern. It must be the pressure of looking out for his team, and of course him. Zeke keeps forgetting that this are all new to him and to them as well.
So, he will try his best to not be a hindrance to the group.
"Alright," Zeke said, he scanned the layout of the dungeon one last time before entering.
The interior of the dungeon is much more unnerving than its view outside. The layout inside is also much more simplistic than what Zeke had initially thought of what a dungeon will look like. The first floor of the towering dungeon is what anyone would expect of what a castle looks like, the entryway has a red-velvety carpet that leads to what seems like a grand staircase. The place is full of sconces, torches and has a huge chandelier situated on the ceiling that consists of candles which acts as the light, like those in medieval times.
It is still morning, but the the natural lighting from outside is subdued due to the enormous, thick draperies that are blocking the entirety of the enormous glass windows. This causes the atmosphere inside to feel somewhat sinister.
"So this is what it looks like from the inside," murmured Magnus.
"It's much more similar to our castle back home, but it looks less… inviting of course, to say the least," he said pensively, walking around, checking most of the walls.
"Hey, what is that mechanism there," he pointed at the elevated platform underneath an ancient mural that looks like a person coming out of a portal? The mechanism is placed on a pedestal in the middle of the platform.
Zeke and the other three four went to Magnus' side to further investigate the strange structure. Examining it closer, it looks as if the mechanism is meant to do something, but clearly none of them knows exactly what. The dark green orb in the very center of the complicated structure is the one that is capturing Zeke's attention the most.
"See the runic symbols on the floor," Hawke said suddenly chiming in, he sounds as if he knows what this mechanism is for but still quite unsure, "this is clearly a magical structure, but it is unusable at the moment, although I'm at still figuring out how we can 'use' it."