After the feasting had ended, the drivers and workers had piled back into the carriages but Wyll was surprised to find that Fletch was taking front and center with him instead of writing in the rather posh carriages. This caused him to raise a brow as he looked to Fletch with a bit of curiosity.
"You know you don't have to walk with us right? I don't want you to expend too much of your energy just trying to keep pace, don't take that the wrong way. You are my retainer and I just wish not to see you get hurt in case we come across something."
Fletch simply nodded before retrieving the large great sword that the woman had. Quickly he strapped it to his back before taking out some weights so he could participate in the training with the rest of Turmoil. Wyll was a bit shocked to see the rather quiet and clumsy retainer go out of his way to try and train with the rest of the group as if he had a point to prove. Askalon was a bit worried about Wyll, struggling to understand how the boy had managed to completely ignore the soul link and still utilize him. The thought was almost sickening as he could still feel the excess mana from Wyll in him but noticed that Wyll was beginning to get a better grasp of his own body as the flowing mana was hard to ignore.
In a few short hours the caravan had made its way into the beginning of the plains. Wildflowers, large animals, and a diverse ecosystem that was much different to the Coalition's territories. The scene was something else as the group looked out at the scene with wonder and whimsy as they took a breath. Excitement filled Wyll as from this point on it was unexplored territory as Wyll looked towards the carriage as a man took a seat next to the driver and began working on a map.
The plains were unique, an uncharted territory due to the large monster population that had gone unchecked. Monsters were a rare occurrence within the Coalition's territory. Little was known about monsters the one thing was for certain with that being that they were a potential untapped resource that had not been fully researched due to their nature. Rarely did a monster leave its corpse after dying, dissipating into a dust-like component. On occasion a monster would drop materials such as leather, bones, blood and so on. Most of these creatures were animalistic though on occasion there would be the occurrence of sentient monsters that were capable of a variety of abilities such as speaking, magic or even high level thought. Most of the time these things acted on pure instinct and bloodlust.
Wyll and his group began to trek through the never ending fields, everything seeming so wide open with little areas for shelter. The plains were classified as a part of the Wildlands due to their nature and lack of being claimed, that self proclaimed king from the looks of him, seemed to be within the eastern desert, a lawless place that few took refuge in and those who did were typically criminals. Wyll didn't want that, he wanted a place where people could thrive, get along, the strong protecting the weak.
For 5 days the group trekked through the plains. There were no animals, their path almost seeming too straightforward, no monsters or threats. Everything seemed much too quiet as they made their way across. Slowly the temperature dropped, before them laying a mountain range that its peaks seemed to go even past the heavens. This was not an option to cross as Wyll crossed his arms, feeling a bit disgruntled at the lack of things as Askalon gently grabbed Wyll's shoulder.
"Listen to me. We cannot climb those mountains. Up there I can feel a presence, an uncanny one that rattles my core. Maybe we should explore, just the two of us. We can both move faster than the rest of the group and it is safer."
Wyll nodded, hating that their speed was considerably slowed down but at the same time it made sense for the two to scout ahead with Wyll's {Basic Wolf Step} allowing him to travel faster with low stamina consumption. With a breath he sighed, waiting until nightfall. Slipping out of the camp under the guise of the night Wyll dashed through the open fields, passing through the tall grass. The feeling was somewhat enlightening as he ran about without care, enjoying the feeling of freedom.
Wyll zoned out, enjoying the open feeling as he danced and pranced about the fields. Askalon felt strange, seeing Wyll feel so free was nice but all at the same time he had a horrible gut feeling about his place. Askalon came to the realization too late as he went to warn Wyll as he dropped through a hole, eyes going wide as he entered a free fall into a pit of darkness. Darkness, of course its dark. At this point Wyll wasn't even sure what to expect as he tried his hardest to find something to grab onto.
"Sorry Askalon, gonna do something stupid!"
Askalon was going to protest before Wyll shouted, suddenly feeling himself plunge into the rock face. The feeling wasn't necessarily painful but it was not pleasant as Wyll slowly came to a stop, dangling in the air. He panted, head spinning a bit as he groaned, curious just what they had fallen into as he began to get his soul length back into tune.
"You stupid shallow idiot! I was trying to warn you but your soul has been out of sync for days! What has been going on with you! You've been acting feral and like a lone wolf but show some weird type of compassion! Damnit, now we are in a damn dungeon!"
Askalon shouts as Wyll sighs, slowly letting himself down from the wall as he begins to slowly climb down the rough rocky face of the hole. Wyll was careful to not misuse Askalon again as he climbed down, making sure to be safe as his feet finally touched solid ground. Wyll let out a sigh and released all the tension in his body as he began to relax some more, finally feeling solid ground under his feet. However the sound was strange as he felt the floor under him wasn't grass nor rock.
Askalon stayed in {Weapon} form as he tried to see, using his mana sense to feel about the surroundings but couldn't make much sense of them as things seemed metal, technology he hadn't seen before. He cursed, knowing that this meant the dungeon was not of this world, instead from another one that had made its way here. He wanted to tell Wyll but knew he couldn't due to the {Laws} in place. He huffed, shaking his head as he wondered just how Wyll was going to get himself out of this one before feeling a strong mana pulse from Wyll.
Wyll felt his core shake, mana pulsing off of him and through the dungeon as a dull hum began to sound from deeper within. A cyan glow suddenly filled the room, illuminating the surroundings as Wyll found himself before a set of metal doors that reflected the light some. Beside the door was some kind of device beside the door as Wyll nervously gulped. The device had the imprint of a hand on it as Wyll felt the print call out to him, beckon him to place his hand onto it as he relented, gently placing his hand into the indent as a light ran over his hand. Suddenly the light turned from cyan to a light violet color before a small ding sounded off in Wyll's head.
[[Integration complete. Bypassing security measures. 01000001 01101110 01111010 01110101 00100000 01010010 01100101 01110011 01100101 01100001 01110010 01100011 01101000 00100000 01001100 01100001 01100010 has registered Wyll Amarok as owner. Integrating Pandemonium into systems. Due to conflict within the system, Retainer Arezzo has been transformed into Retainer Bedlam. Please standby.]]
The metal doors slide open as air rushes into the room before Wyll and Askalon. Lights begin to buzz before flickering on, to show a pristine white room that was almost blinding to look at. A large plethora of tubes holding a teal-ish liquid sat against the wall, papers seemed to be slew about the room as odd equipment lay scattered and broken on the ground as an illusion-like image was projected before Wyll of a man in violet scale. Unkempt hair, glasses, an odd looking attire of slacks and a sterile coat that went down a good bit. Wyll readied Askalon as he looked at the illusion curiously.
["Calm down Wyll. I am not here to fight. I am Retainer Bedlam, I am the AI that is running the lab. Come in and take a look around at what is now yours. I will explain the purpose of this 'dungeon' as you call it considering you are now the head researcher. Speaking off, a proper ID tag for such a position"]
The hologram snaps its fingers as a blinding light overtakes Wyll in an instant. A searing pain took over his right hand and arm as he clutched Askalon, hissing through his teeth before the light faded. Wyll was panting as he found the back of his hand stung as did his forearm up to his shoulder. He began to rip off his armor to find the source. A serpent tail, a scorpion tail and some form of feline with the tail tips ending at his shoulder where all three tails connected to three points of a triquetra on the back of his hand as he sweat some, unsure what mess he had managed to get himself into.