Out of the three of us, I am the only person who should be extra careful while going inside a portal in the first place. Because they can take more hits than I ever could. I have heard about the people who got hurt in the same circumstances as I did. However, they were less hurt than I was, purely because their rank was higher than mine. But of course that is normal with the fact that there's apparently a screen that can pop up for people where they can view their stats. Yet here I am every single time. Just walking inside here every single time knowing the danger I could face. I know that I should stay clear of anything strange inside here. Yet I can't shake off this feeling that I want to go inside something strange.
"Well, you two can explore it all you want. Just be careful when you enter inside because this portal didn't indicate anything like this being here." I shout out to both of them but honestly, I doubt that they really heard me. I don't know if it's that or them ignoring me. I am honestly curious about it too but I rather try to avoid getting hurt. My getting hurt so much over the years has made me very cautious. "Please be careful of traps!" I shout as I see Kiara enter inside.
"Azure, there's no need to worry so much. I will keep an eye on Kiara while you can do whatever you like. No one is forcing you to stay here so. You can go back to the start and quit while you're ahead like always. You could also just walk to the attacking team but remember they are fighting zombies." Lake shouts back in response. I can't really say if he's mocking me. His tone of voice sounds like it's mocking me but at the same time I think i hear a tone of pity. However, his eyes make it clear that the tone of voice was meant to be mocking as his bluish/ greyish eyes stare daggers into me.
Well, I suppose Lake has it handled right now. I just hope he remembers that anomalies like this happening inside portals can turn out very dangerous. Honestly, I am not even doubting that he remembers it because I might not be fond of him but he is competent. He may be two years younger than me but that doesn't invalidate the fact that he has been doing this for three years already. I just hope that he remembers that stuff like this gets low-ranked delvers like us killed. I can't help but wonder if there is something even more dangerous inside here. Just finding this thing makes me wonder why? I probably shouldn't think about it. But I can't help it, what if there was something in here that could kill us all without even having a sweat?
"Wait so this isn't something normal that happens inside portals. Both of you look like you have seen a ghost. But isn't this what delving is all about?" Kiara asks as she pops her head outside the structure for a bit. Well, I knew that I probably look terrified but I didn't realise that Lake would. I understand why something like this would excite her though. I would've been excited too, if this was my first time delving. Who wouldn't be excited if they encountered something so rare? Lake did say he would stay with her though so that is at least something. In terms of raw power, he is a whole lot weaker than her yet again, that doesn't mean that he can't help her. But Lake has been pretty lucky during his years delving. I never really heard of him getting hurt.
"Well, you two can check what this is all about. But I am going to check a bit further behind it. Since I rather not go inside there. I don't even know what it is." I shout out as I look at the building. I have no clue what it might be since it could just be a ruin. But I am honestly leaning towards it being a temple.
As I walk off I can hear Lake shouting something at me. But I am unable to really hear what he was saying. I am sure that he is saying that he will keep an eye on Kiara or that I shouldn't wander off too far away. Even during a calm conversation I feel kind of drained. I honestly have to say it might be because he has a pretty high energy output. As I am walking next to the building I feel like someone is staring at me again. I quickly look back in case it might be Lake or Kiara trying to pull a joke on me or something. Yet again I see nothing around me. I could've sworn someone had to be staring at me pretty intently for me to even notice it. At this point, I am starting to question if walking outside like this is even the safer option. Maybe going inside this thing or going back to the cave might've been safer.
However, that is the only thing I really notice while walking beside these ruins. I don't notice any enemies which is normal I suppose since the enemies appearing should be zombies and there's still light outside. Sadly enough my phone doesn't work inside portals like these. Because these portals would be really cool to have pictures of. But at the same time, it is kind of good that it doesn't. I would've taken a picture of it. Which my siblings definitely would've found somehow. And if they see that portals could be cool like this it might encourage them to go inside one if their powers got activated. I wouldn't want them to ever have to enter inside one of these. I can't help but worry as I do notice something else. There seems to be absolutely nothing to collect here.
I didn't expect to find a whole lot here. But I was at least hoping to find those blue ridge mushrooms. It is something that is used in medicine all over the world now because of how effective it is in helping against pain. Most stuff that people get inside the portals are used for injuries you get inside portals. But those mushrooms are used for injuries you can get outside portals too. I am not completely sure what it is used to but from what I heard it can heal a strained muscle 10 times faster. I can however not see them anywhere. I keep on walking in the hope I see something useful. However, my search is quickly halted as I bump into something. I instinctively take a few steps back to not stand against what I walked into. I however have absolutely no idea what I even walked into. Since when I look in front of me, I see absolutely nothing. How could I bump into nothing, like I clearly felt like I bumped against something?
I put my hand out in front of me in an attempt to see what I am dealing with. And with that, I can feel what I bumped into, yet I couldn't see it without something touching it. But now that my hand is touching it I do see it. Both my mind and heart are racing at this point because I have never seen something like this before. I am unable to pass through it seems. I take my hand off the screen-like thing in front of me. As I look at my glove I see a honeycomb-like pattern faded into it.
I have never heard of something like this before. I never even thought there were barriers inside portals. I am honestly quite terrified at something like this happening in a D+ ranked portal. I don't even know if there are barriers in higher-ranking portals. Something like this really makes me want to leave this portal. I want to walk back to the portal, get my money for the time I did spend here, and go home. I haven't been inside long enough to get enough money to support three people though. I am still lucky enough to be living in New York State so my wages aren't too low. Yet I still live in New York State. I also haven't collected nearly enough to make a decent amount of extra money. This temple might have something of worth in it though.
I know money isn't everything in the world. But you basically need to buy everything you need to survive with money. And if I want to make sure that Eleanor and Liam don't end up in foster care. I don't want to end up there, I don't want them to be taken from me. They are the only family I have left.
But the only thing I have to worry about right now is this light field. Or whatever it might actually be. Maybe Lake has seen this before? He has been to some more difficult portals before. As I turn around to walk back towards the entrance of the ruin I get this feeling again. The feeling that someone is just staring at me. But then I actually feel it, a sharp sting on the right side of my neck. I quickly look around to see where it even came from but I see nothing. I however can't help but feel this wave of exhaustion wash over me. I try to walk back a couple of steps but I just collapse. The wave of exhaustion is taking over.
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"Drake, the rest of the group is getting way too ahead of us right now. Maybe you call them back again?" Michael shouts at me as I quickly finish killing the last zombie who decided to attack us all from behind.
"We will join them since we seem to be done with the last few zombies anyway. Also, Alex is still with them. So, nothing much to worry about anyway." I shout out to Michael as I quickly make sure that none of the group seems to be hurt. It seems that Emily our healer went with the others. "Let's hurry up people. We don't want to be stuck here too long."
I hear the others mumble a bit as I notice that none of them have gotten hurt by the sneak attack. I don't usually see zombies this organised. Considering the fact that it is a D+ ranked portal though the zombies might just organise better. But we all quickly wander down in the dark hallway towards the rest. I personally tend to dislike having to wander through these dark hallways. But caves usually mean loads of zombies who give us all pretty decent awards.
"Is everyone doing alright still?" I shout out to the others who are easy to spot by Alex's light. I suppose if they did encounter any zombies then they were quickly taken care of. As we join the rest I do notice quite a lot of ash floating around the air. I assume Alex burned some to the ground. I just hope that he remembered to grab some of the energy they carry since they aren't even hard to carry around. I am glad that we are all back together since I am not too fond of splitting everyone up.
Well I know that I had to split some people off for safety reasons.
Azure for example can't really fight well and would have collecting talents wasted down here. The kid really seems to have a talent for it.
Kiara on the other hand has a lot of raw power. But her power clashes too much with Alex's who is not only good at getting rid of them but also lights the way for us.
I would've liked to take Lake with us but I know the other two won't hold back Azure and Kiara. Lake would hold them back at least a bit. He is also not great at caves. He is very thorough even following fleeing monsters inside random hallways. This means he gets separated from others which isn't great.
You still have Brad who is pretty decent at fighting. Not as good as Lake is but decent, to say the least. But he isn't strong enough to fight well enough in this group for a D+ ranked portal.
The last person I thought wise to stay there up there was Alexis. Simply because she is a pretty weak mage even for an E rank. Also, the air spells she uses tend to put out fire spells. And I wouldn't want any of Alex's spells to be put out on accident.
"Well assuming by how long we have been walking here. I think we are on the path toward the boss. A quick and easy quest like expected. The power meter must be off or something right? Like there has to be." Alex shouts out as the burning smell of rotten zombie flesh fills up the air. He might be great at killing zombies but he also makes everything stink even more here.
"Well, yeah of course this all is easy. The enemies are zombies after all. We will probably be able to finish this off today if we try hard enough. Let's hope the weaklings didn't stray off too far." Micheal laughs out as he blocks some hits meant for Alex. From one point I understand why people look down on others who are weaker. But at the same time you have to respect people who go inside portals they could get killed in. "Well, that new girl might be able to do something good. But she is still a newbie at the end of the day."
"Well, Lake is with them and if you ask me he seems to be pretty capable. The problem with the group up there is Azure. He can't even be called a weak link he is like a break in the chain." Alex adds to Michael's complaining about people who aren't even here. But at least he is casting spells at the same time over Michael's shoulder. Azure is weak they are right about that. He is even pretty weak for being an F- rank but that doesn't mean they have to drag the kid down while he isn't here. Also, the kid comes back even after getting hurt over and over again.
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When I finally regain consciousness I immediately notice that the sky seems a lot darker. I was probably out for quite a while by the looks of it. There is something I do notice and that is the royal blue flash that moves away from the trees above me. Before my collapse, I would've shrugged it off as a trick of the eye. But something knocked me out with who knows what. It probably had to be something.
"Oi, Azure are you awake? Like what happened here, dude." I hear Lake shout at me as I see him leaning over me. I don't even know if he is actually shouting or if everything just sounds loud right now. I try to get up but I can't help but notice the stinging pain in my muscles. It doesn't feel like I had been beaten up or something. No, it feels like I just ran a marathon or something. Or did a lot an intense work out that makes my muscles hurt so much.
"Give me a couple of seconds. I am still trying to wake up again. But what happened, I felt a sting and then I collapsed. How long was I out for?" I ask as I try to get myself back up. It takes some time but I do manage to stand up after a bit. Every muscle in my body hurts.
"How should I know? We just found out you passed out. I do think you were out for too long. We found it weird that you didn't come back so we came to find you. You did miss some cool things inside though. But did you know, there's like some sort of wall here?" Lake explains as he points to where the light wall seemed to be. Of course, he shows where the wall is too but I kind of knew where it was already. It was however the last thing I found out before I passed out.
"Yeah, I know about that. I actually passed out right as I was about to go back and tell you two. I don't trust it to be honest." I mutter out as I look at my glove, it still had the honeycomb pattern in it. "I don't know how safe it is to touch though. It did make a pattern on my glove." I tell them as I show them my glove. I don't know whether or not that field could deal light damage. I quickly look around to spot that blue thing again.
"We maybe should talk about that inside the temple you two. Because this doesn't look good." Kiara shouts out as she points to something behind where the light wall should be. Lake immediately takes a few steps away from the barrier. However, it seems to be behind the barrier so we should be safe right? Lake looks relieved to see that it is behind the wall. I am too but I can't help but think that it might be able to get through here though. The problem is that it is walking right towards us. I honestly recognised what it was immediately and I know that I will have to run if it can get through here. Kiara is probably just worried about the fact that it seems like a wolf. The light barrier however only seemed to keep things inside here.
"Kiara, I would say that you do a spell in an attempt to slow them down. But after that run back towards the temple. Azure you start running there already." Lake shouts out as he just smacks the first dire wolf in his face. But I got to be honest, Lake didn't even need to tell me to run since I was planning on doing that already. I would rather run back towards the portal but I'm pretty sure one of the wolves would've gotten me already. So temple it is then, I just hope they are too big to get through the doorway. I immediately start to run as I quickly take a look back I see Kiara cast some sort of water blast. The spell seems to create three separate balls of water which shoot at three of the upcoming dire wolves. The both of them now are running behind me as we race towards the temple.
This moment demonstrates that all my training outside seems to be for nothing. I am not getting stronger nor am I getting faster. Even all the running I do inside these portals could be considered training since I am not doing anything inside here. You would think after 5 years I would at least get a bit better at running. But of course, it didn't, I am still one of the worst runners in any group I am in. Even now as Lake and Kiara pass by me without much trouble. I see them pass behind the corner of the temple already, I am not even near that point yet. I have to assume that they are probably nearly inside already. The wolves seem to be a tad bit stunned by their attacks already, so I guess it is good that they did that. But they do seem to be ready to run too. It takes me longer than Lake and Kiara but I finally manage to pass the corner. But it seems that those wolves are running too now.
All I have to do is get through the doorway which I manage to do. I however can't help but worry about the fact that these wolves might be able to get through this doorway. My fears are quickly confirmed as one of the wolves starts to enter here. However, all of our terrors are quickly smashed. Quite literally as the top of the doorway collapse on it. It crushes the body of the wolf and kills him immediately. As I look up I can't help but stutter out. "What the hell was that? What the actual fuck is happening right now." As I look up at the door I notice that the door might have been stuck in the top part. Which raises so many questions.
"Azure, in how much trouble are we right now? You have been doing this the longest out of all of us here." Lake asks me as I collapse to the ground again the adrenaline fades from my body again, and I start to feel the pain again. And if I am honest right now, I have absolutely no idea how much trouble we're in right now. All I need to do right now is catch my breath right now. That way I can think more clearly and think of what we should do. I have never seen anything like this before. Too much has been going on right now.
"I don't know, I have never seen something like this before. I would say it is good that we are stuck in here right now, hopefully, it opens back up when the sun rises again. Because honestly I don't want to deal with thee or maybe more dire wolves. Because who knows how many can pass through here." I shout out to both of them my voice trembling with every word that comes out. We are in uncharted territory right now.
"I don't think we can do much except wait. Getting through the night might be the easiest thing to do right now." Kiara proclaims as she goes to grab something from her bag. "Well, I hope we will get out of here tomorrow, so eat one of these. We need to have enough energy tomorrow." Kiara says as she hands both Lake and me an energy bar.
"Thanks, and at least someone is thinking positively. I suggest we all should rest a bit. Since I think for once we might want to get to the portal early." Lake replies as he goes to sit against the wall. He also immediately starts to eat the energy bar Kiara had given him. "You two can still look this place, but I doubt that there will be anything left to find in here. Kiara and I did a pretty thorough sweep of this place."
"I am going to get some shut-eye too. I am kind of exhausted by all this excitement that went on." Kiara responds as she plops down next to Lake as she quickly falls asleep. I honestly don't even know how she did that. I don't think the me of five years ago would've been able to sleep this quickly. But I would've been excited too. Most people only know portals from the S ranked ones you see on TV. Those are definitely exciting but I would say also downright terrifying. S ranked hunters and those who are able to survive those delves are some different breed or something.
I am just surprised by how quickly she fell asleep but I am not surprised by the fact that she can sleep. But that doesn't mean I can think about sleeping right now. As I start to put all the weird things I noticed when we came inside this portal. There are just too many weird factors that went on here.
The first thing I noticed was the environment. In a D+ ranked portal there shouldn't be two different types of environments.
The second thing was that feeling of being watched by something. I felt it multiple times while wandering around here. Could it be related to what made me fall asleep?
Also this temple we are currently hiding in. There shouldn't be any structures like this in D+ ranked portals. Not when the terrain isn't said to be an abandoned village or even a labyrinth. I am not sure where something like a temple should be found.
There is also that weird light barrier type of wall. Why would there be a wall that we couldn't pass through. But monsters like dire wolves could walk through.
Then you have the blue flash I saw after I woke up again. But I am kind of convinced that it might be related to me being knocked and feeling watched.
You also have dire wolves who shouldn't be appearing when the only enemies who appear here should be zombies. However dire wolves would be appropriate enemies to find here. But not when the final boss is a zombie.
"I am going to check out what this place actually is." I say as I walk deeper inside this place. Both Lake and Kiara seem to be asleep already. However, there isn't a lot I can explore here. We have the main room which is obviously already explored. There seems to be a staircase that goes up and one that goes down. I rather not get trapped inside a dark and probably creepy. Which means I am going up.
As I walk up the stairs, I can't help but notice how beautifully decorated this room is. Not in terms of furniture but what is on the walls. I don't know how to truly describe it completely, it was just the atmosphere around me. What confuses me though is that I don't find the room smell dusty. I don't even know why I even think it looks beautiful since from what I can see on the walls look pretty. But I can't really see it all that well. This entire building is pretty dark. From what I can see on the walls seem to be some sort of monsters. But honestly out of the entire room that wasn't what grabbed my attention. The thing that grabbed most of my attention seemed to be a small blue stone laying on top of an altar.
End Prologue - How I got here: Part 3
Completed.
You got a character card
Name: Drake Lanley
Ability: Enhanced strength
Class: Fighter
Date of birth: 04/23/1981
Age: 42 years old
Nationality: American
Hair style: Short, wavy, mahogany coloured hair
Eye colour: Brown
Likes: Fighting monsters, Leading people, Comics
Dislikes: School, Rocks, Loud music