《Going to The Dungeon》


 Chapter 1 : The beginning

    THUMP


    Thrain looked up after he got struck to the ground, he was currently sparring with thorin, his brother, practice for when they enter the dungeon tomorrow.


    Thorin lent down and offered a hand to Thrain.


    Thrain smacked it away still a bit mad that he got knocked down by that strike and the fact that he''s now got no sword to train with looking over at the pile of wood scraps.


    "You know your going to be paying for that right?"


    "That''s fine, but I have a interesting idea double or nothing loser pays"


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    Hearing this Thrain raised an eye brow "Hand to hand I assume?" Already starting to get into a fighting stance.


    Thorin nodded before Dashing forward throwing a straight punch straight at Thrain.


    As the punch was coming Thrain was fully concentrating on the bullet like punch.


    It felt as though time was slowing down for him giving him enough time to attempt to block or even redirect the incoming blow, "Boys dinner is ready come on in before it gets cold", breaking Thrain out of his concentration and taking the full force of the punch.


    THUMP

 Chapter 2: The bedroom

    Thrain and Thorin were walking up stairs towards their bedroom after the enormous feast they had just eaten.


    Apparently Mother was so thrilled about them exploring there first dungeon that she had accidently made way more food than they had needed although father wouldn''t have stopped her, you could see him patiently waiting for the food while his mouth was drooling of course.


    As they approached the door, Thrain reached for the door knob and entered the room.


    The room was spacious and was separated in half, one side was Thrain''s. Which had a bed and a bookshelf that had books about sword techniques, general fighting techniques, books about how the dungeons came about and books about the structure of dungeons. While Thorin''s side also had a bed, it also had weighted clothes and other kinds workout equipment.


    They walked to the middle of the room and faced each other and Thorin said "Do you think we should get the rest of the supplies now? You know how the town can be".


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    The town in question was Merchant''s Gathering, the town was known for producing a large amount of goods for dungeons such as weapons, medicine and general adventuring equipment. Because of this it was a non stop trading stop for merchants all around.


    After thinking about it for a second Thrain spoke, "Yeah probably a good idea should be a lot less people this late into the night, do you happen to have been secretly saving money as well".


    The moment Thrain had finished his sentence, Thorin was already reaching under his bed and pulling out a pouch of coins.


    "Not bad, not bad" Thrain giving his brother a small clap "Mine''s better". Thrain proceeded to reach over to a particular book ''How to find your valuables'' pulled it out and opened the book to find the book had a pouch like shape carved out with the pouch fitting nicely inside.


    Thorin surprised by the amount of effort he went into to hide the money as well as the fact it was bigger than his.

 Chapter 3: Supplies

    The boys had finally reached the town.


    The town was circular in shape. The outer circle was where all the businesses were, which had a decent amount of the shops still operating even at this time of night. The centre of the town was a large fountain with crystal clear water spouting out of it with some people just hanging out around it.


    Thrain looked around the outer circle and saw that some shops were still open but more importantly the three main shops they wanted to go were still open, these three shops were Bruce''s Blacksmith, Madethine''s medicine and Alberts Adventuring equipment.


    The moment that Thorin saw that the black smith was still open he wanted to go there first since he wanted to get a brand new weapon as soon as possible. Thrain rolled his eyes but agreed they would go to the black smith first. They entered the shop, it had the smell of iron and smoke in the air, the shop had a variety of weapons and armour in stock.


    As soon as Bruce who was a shorter man however probably the most muscular man that they had even see saw them he said "I see you boys have fully grown up now, I still remember when you were still small and wanting to go on adventures and your finally going, huh?". "Sure are old man, we''re here to get some weapons before we head out tomorrow" Thorin said in response. While Bruce and Thorin were catching up, Thrain went around the store looking for something that suited him.


    He looked through his option there were great swords, short swords, rapiers, daggers and all sorts of other weapons. Thinking about the pros and the cons that each of the weapons had Thrain came to two conclusions, a basic short sword or wielding two daggers, a basic short sword would be heavier than a dagger however would pack more of a punch and he could carry a shield for defence as well. Wielding two daggers on the other hand would mean no extra defence but in exchange he would be more agile and would be able to attack quickly because of there light weight . In the end he decided that a short sword and a shield would be a wiser choice as he isn''t as strong as Thorin and would need some sort of defence that daggers couldn''t offer that.


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    By the time he had carefully chosen his weapon Thorin had just picked up a great sword with ease, swung it around a bit and was happy with his selection. Thorin didn''t like to think to much on these decision and just went with whatever was strong and heavy.


    "I see wise choices, well I hope you guys do well and conquer the dungeon". The boys paid for the equipment and wished Bruce a farewell. "Since you chose the blacksmith first, I say we go to Madethine''s medicine next". Thorin agreed and they went there next.


    The front of the store had a variety of flower growing which gave off a medicinal aroma, some of which Thrain could identify from books he had read. They entered the shop to notice that the aroma got stronger the further they went into the store. The stores interior had some more plants growing as well as shelves of medicines. Thorin decided to stay near the entrance of the store, he didn''t mind to much for medicine and thought he could just take on everything with his muscles.


    After browsing the stock that was in the store he found some interesting products, mainly salves for burns and other injury''s, A type of medicine that you inhale to remove distortion and any mental effects and the most interesting was actually a manual of ways to heal up cuts and open wounds with stuff usually found in dungeons. Thrain thought this would be the best out of all the products that he wanted to buy. The boys left the store shortly after as they didn''t know Madethine as well as they knew Bruce.


    It was getting so late that they were a bit worried that mother would scold them when they got home but they only had one more shop left so they continued to it.


    Alberts Adventuring equipment was probably the most normal of the shops just a simple store with a cosy feeling coming from it. The store had a wide variety of useful things that could be used inside of dungeons. In the end they settled on buying; Rope , Two Core containment box , A box of flint and steel, A bottle of oil, A couple of flashes, some rations and some other things.


    Thorin yawned as they were leaving the last store "Can we finally head back home?". Thrain rolled his eyes and started heading back.

 Chapter 4: Into The Dungeon

    As the boys were heading back to their home. The path ahead of them seemed to be slightly more dark and ominous.


    Thorin''s instincts suddenly kicked in and he drew his great sword and held it out in front of him in a sort of blocking stance. The sound of two metallic objects hitting each other came from the right of Thrain as soon he heard this he looked over to see a dagger falling to the ground, seeing this he drew his sword and shield, he had a bad feeling about this.


    "Hmm, when I saw them in the town I thought they were inexperienced, little ''adventurers'' " A smaller than average man came out of the darkness. Thrain could see that the man wore a cloak that had a hood and mask that hide his identity. Then a second man came out of the shadows, He didn''t wear a cloak instead he only wore a mask but he was more built and taller than the first man "I guess your getting old" He chuckled.


    The first man frustratedly threw a second dagger at Thorin seemingly wanting to prove he hadn''t lost his edge but once again they were blocked. "Well may as well get the show on the road" The second man said drawing a long sword. The man approached Thrain, Thrain could see out of the corner of his eye that the first man had pulled out two daggers and was already attacking Thorin.


    When the second man got within distance he raised his longsword above him and slashed down at Thrain. Thrain''s eyes opened wide seeing the attack knowing he couldn''t block it, he stepped to the side narrowly dodging the incoming blow. Seeing how Thrain had dodged the slash, the man promptly changed the swords angle and striking at Thrain''s shield.


    Thrain was pushed back with the shield somehow managing to withstand the blow. Thrain assumed it was due to the sword losing some power while changing the trajectory. Thrain fully concentrated on the man he knew that this guy was an expert, probably many years older than himself. The man lunged forward stabbing towards him. Thrain now properly concentrating could see the sword and let it slide off his shield, however he knew he couldn''t just be on the defence so he slashed at the mans neck. The man withdraw the his sword and tried to parry the blow while stepping slightly backwards.


    He did manage to parry it but not entirely. Thrain could see a bit of blood dripping down the black clothes. The exchange of blows went back and forth for a while, the man clearly fed up with this rushed in for a downwards slash with his full strength. Thrain promptly proceeded to fully focus on the sword that was heading right at him, it seemed to slowed down giving him time to come up with a plan. He noticed that the man stomped down with his right leg as he swung his sword but also noticed that the left leg wasn''t really holding the mans weight at all. Almost as if his left leg was injured in some way. Thrain decided to place his life on this bet.


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    As the sword was coming down Thrain lifted his left arm up which held his shield in an attempt to block as much damage as he could and with his right arm he poured all his power into a slash at the mans right leg hope to at least knock him off balance changing where the sword would land.


    The sword was just about to hit the shield but suddenly a bolt of pain ran through the mans body throwing of the swords trajectory. Thrain had been too successful and slashed straight threw the mans flesh and bone and cleaved it cleanly in half. The man cried out in pain covering his leg with his hands blood pouring from it. Thrain looked down at him feeling guilty for what he just did and was about to pull out some rope to tie him up. The man then glared at the boy so intensely and pulled out a white rock and bite into it.


    The man was dead.


    Although Thrain didn''t kill him directly he couldn''t help thinking, "We could have run away, I could have tied him up, I could have stopped him grabbing the rock, I could have ...". Thorin placed his hand on his brothers shoulder. Thrain turned to him clearly distraught. His could see another corpse, that of the smaller man who had also died with the white rock in his hand.


    The boys looked at each other Thorin saying, "You didn''t kill them. Even if you did he would have killed you, you don''t need to feel guilty". Hearing that Thrain went to hug his brother while bawling his eyes out.


    Some time passed after Thrain had calmed down. The boys knew that this was only the beginning they were going to have to kill in the near future to survive. They resolved them selves knowing that it was either them or the enemy.


    As they got home they decided it was too much of a hassle to be scolded, so they decided to sneak their way in. Making it to the bedroom they patched up the scratches and bruises that they received in the previous battle as well as touching up on the weapons epically Thrain''s shield. Thrain then yawned, exhausted from the long day.


    "You did this to me, You''re the reason I''m dead" Thrain could see a rotting man on his bed. He reached down towards Thrain''s head. "AHHHHHHHHHHH".


    THUMP


    Thrain opened his eyes groaning in pain. He had fallen off his bed, he couldn''t quite remember what he was dreaming about. Afterwards Thorin also woke up due to all the noise Thrain made. They headed downstairs and grabbed some breakfast that their mother made, eating way too fast. It was finally time, they grabbed all their items and equipment and headed out towards the Dungeons entrance.


    On the way there Thrain pulled out a book and read a bit of it, The first page talked about the overall structure of a Dungeon. A Dungeon was made up of four parts, The Lobby, Some sort of man made structure whether it be a tavern, house or castle interior, The wild and The boss room. Thrain focused on The lobby''s section, It was always the top level of the dungeon that looked like a dirty temple. The inside of the temple typically had some seating areas for people to prepare for the dungeon and a giant circular staircase in the middle of it. It also had a note at the bottom of the page stating that ''if a group did not walk down at the same time they would always mysteriously get separated''.


    The finally reached their destination, Thrain looked up from the book. The temple was in front of them. Thrain and Thorin walked up to the two giant doors that lead into the temple and looked back, they saw their family and a couple of familiar faces such as Bruce sending them off. They looked at each other with determination and pushed on the doors.


    The doors creaked open.

 Chapter 5: First Floor

    The boys headed through the giant doors, the room inside was exactly as the book described it. There were seats, benchs and tables that had different parties of adventurers around them. The parties all had different team compositions some had archers, some had people specifically looking for traps as well as some people with swords, daggers, etc despite the variety of people they were all preparing for the dungeon. This made Thrain kind of nervous but he trusted the preparations they had made at home. Other than the adventurers the main focal point of the room was the huge circular stair case that seemed to lead into the abyss. Thrain gulped seeing this but headed inside anyway.


    BANG


    The giant doors slammed shut behind them, startling Thrain a bit. Before they decided to descend down the stairs the boys wanted to try to talk with some of the other adventurers to see if they had any more intel about the Dungeon. After around fifteen minutes or so they found out that it was the complete opposite, most of the other adventurers hadn''t even read anything on Dungeon besides the stories of the adventures that took place. The plan of the other adventurers was to simply brute force there way through the Dungeon until they reached the boss room. "That was a bust" Thrain sighed, hoping he would''ve at least gotten some useful information out of them. "Do we need to prepare anything more or are we all set to head in" Thorin said in a bit of an impatient tone. "Nope, we''re all set". The boys walked to the the stair case that descended deep into the abyss.


    A shiver ran down Thrains spine "Here we go". They both went down the stairs making sure that they went down at the same time.


    Going down the stairs felt weird and almost alien to Thrain, there wasn''t even a gust of wind and the only sounds that could be heard at all was the sounds of the feet hitting the stair and there breath that was getting slightly weaker the more they went down. This continued on for a while, as they got increasingly deeper Thrain started to panic more and more.


    "The air changed" Thrain stated as they went deeper, a little more deeper and the stone that surrounded them suddenly changed to a type of stone bricks. "I think we finally made it to the First floor" Thrain started to draw his sword and shield just in case. Thorin following his lead.


    The stair case had opened up into a long corridor, Thrain felt relieved he could at least feel the air moving around him again. The corridor was long and lined with lanterns with some additional decorations all over. The boys proceeded cautiously down the corridor making sure not to accidently touch anything that could trigger a trap or alert an enemy to there position.


    They eventually reached the end of the corridor without anything happening and let their guards down a little bit. The corridor was connected to a room that was about the size of small tavern. The room had a couple of seats an a huge ornate chandelier in the middle. Thrain assumed this had to be a waiting room, by now Thrain could also tell what the first floors structure was. He was certain it was based off an old castle.


    The waiting room didn''t seem to have anything of importance and was kind of boring, Thrain could see the excitement draining out of Thorin''s face. Seeing this he pointed out that there was three different corridors that they could explore and let Thorin choose which path to head down.


    Thorin without a hint of hesitation went to the right most path. Thrain laughed at how simple his brother was sometimes. Going down the right path, the corridor seemed almost identical to the pervious one except for one key difference. Along this corridor there was a side room. It seemed to be extremely old and untouched due to this the door was barely hanging on by its hinges. "Wait" Thrain whispered to Thorin as he walked carefully up to the door to look through some of the holes that were in it.


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    The room in contrast with the door was very run down. From what Thrain could see it was most likely a dinning room because of the massive table in the centre that had numerous holes and bit of damage on it with piles of wood surrounding it. Thrain looked closer at the pile of woods he could also see bones that were mixed in with the wood, what surprised him though was that there wasnt any smells that came off it meaning they must have been extremely old. Thorin peaked over Thrain shoulders "I wonder what could have done this?". ""I hope we don''t find out" Thrain said back to him with a slight panic in his voice. Besides that there was one more intriguing thing in the room that was another door that was just as damaged as the first one. "Well there is still one more door, guess we should check it out".


    The boys checked out the room. "Obviously it would have been a kitchen why didn''t I think of that!" Thrain smacked his forehead groaning. The kitchen had no food or anything of importance in it. "Well that was a bust, no enemies no trap worst dungeon ever" Thorin stated with some annoyance in his tone. After checking out the two pointless room they continued down the hall way a little more cautiously again. At the end of a hall way, Thrain scratched his head in thought this was the exact same as the first room they were in. A waiting area with a couple of seats with the same amount of branching corridors as well.


    Thrain pulled out a piece of paper and started drawing a map based on where they had been. It seems most likely that the corridor to his left and straight ahead of him would take them back to the first waiting room and the right room would lead to the next section or the next floor. Thrain explained this to Thorin and they both came to the agreement that they should fully explore this area first. Thorin started to walk to the left room this time but as he was walking Thrain said "You got to choose the last time, this time we are going to go straight". "Fine, Fine" Thorin retorted.


    This time the corridor had around seven doors, the first six had the same broken down look as the doors connecting to the dinning room and kitchen. Except for the seventh, it wasn''t as damaged, still fairly beaten up but not nearly as much as the other six doors. They decided to leave the best looking door for last.


    Then once again Thrain looked through The first broken door. This time instead of a dinning room and kitchen it seemed to be a small bedroom enough to fit one maybe even two people in it. The rooms consisted of a bed or at least what used to be a bed, a wardrobe built into the wall, and a desk. Seemed harmless enough so they entered. Upon closer inspection there was a pile of bones mixed in with the broken bed scrapes.


    Thrain started to form a theory, thinking that it must be a natural disaster or something that could kill countless people in a couple of seconds. Since most of the piles of bones so far felt as though they were just living there daily lives then suddenly poof they were just a pile of bones. At this point though it was just a theory.


    "GOLD!" Thorin cheerfully yelled pulling Thrain away from his thoughts. He looked over "Where did you find it?". "In a pouch. It was just sitting in the desk" still with a cheerful tone. Thrain looked at the pouch there was no signs of wear and tear. It must be some type of really durable material to survive whatever happened in this place. Thrain pulled out his own sack and threw the pouch in it so that they could carry it with them. Then gave it to Thorin to do the heavy lifting. The other 5 broken down doors were about the same but they managed to get another 2 more pouches of gold.


    Thrain and Thorin''s hearts could be heard thumping in there chest. It was time for the well kept door. This time however Thrain couldn''t look through the holes in the door since it had none. So instead he placed his hand on the doorknob slowly and gently signalling for Thorin to be ready to attack just encase. Thorin now prepared, Thrain opened the door trying not to make a sliver of sound. Peering through the slightly opened door it just seemed to be the same as the others but one key difference being nothing was decayed it was just a bit wore out.


    So they entered the room and started searching it, there was no way that the room would be this well kept under these circumstances without a reason. "I found something!" both the boys exclaimed at the same time. They came together to show there findings. First was Thorin he had found a huge pouch of gold about 3 times the size of the previous pouches as well as some armour and weapons in the wardrobe. While Thrain had found a notebook? The note book was perfectly preserved.


    Thrain looked at the cover it read Sir Kurgif''s journal. Thrain trying to contain his excitement he went to open it.

 Chapter 6: Sir Kurgifs journal

    It was finally the first day of the month of harvest! I stretched and hopped out of bed, got ready and headed down to the fields. On my through the town I could see the preparations for his majesty coming along nicely. There were stalls and decorations all throughout. I waved at the townsfolk as we kept walking, eventually making it to the fields.


    The fields lush with wheat, sun reflecting off of it so intensely that it seemed like it was shinning a golden colour. "Sir Kurgif, its an honour to see you here on the very first day" a man kneeling said. "I''m happy to see that we are going to get a plentiful harvest this year, you''ve done well Kael". We chatted for a bit but ultimately I had to return to the castle to also prepare for his majesty''s arrival later today.


    Several hours have passed.


    His majesty and his escorts came through the town, waving down to his subjects, reaching the castle after a while. "Your majesty!" I said kneeling down "Kurgif, we''ve been friends for how many years now? No need for the formalities". I chuckled a little bit. After that we walked to the dinning room. Walking in I was greeted with the various smells of different wheats and other things that were harvested as well as some beef and pork to compliment it. Everyone sat around the table. His majesty lifted his glass saying "For another year of wonderful harvest!" and the feast began!


    Nothing of interest had happened during the feast. So we went back into town to explore the stalls the townsfolk set up. His majesty on his horse Infront of me looked different. Where was his head? Before I could say anything out loud. Everything went black and cold.


    As Thrain and Thorin were reading the journal they started to notice that this journal belonging to Kurgif was probably the owner of this castle. But he had just died right? And how is the castle underground? however they continued reading.


    I woke up panicked, heavily panting. Was it a dream, I moved my arms and feet around, well I''m not dead, I guess? I got out of bed and put on some new clothes those ones had a really bad smell. Besides that I noticed that my room was slightly more damaged than normal, that was quite strange. I went out to the corridor and imminently noticed the other rooms were even more damaged and upon opening them found them destroyed with bones of presumably once was people. I frantically searched around the rest of the castle, every room seemed just a aged with many skeletons in every room.


    I made it to the final room, My heart started to beat faster. I entered his majesty''s room without triggering the traps placed around the door. The throne in the middle of the room had a fully in tact skeleton with a crown on his head. My heart sank. I let out a cry of anguish seeing his majesty but also my friend. After this, days started to blur together. I figured that somehow after I died in that dream if it was a dream, I got transported here. But there was still so many questions. Why me? Will anyone find us? How did the castle age and everyone died? The only thing I knew for certain was I cant leave the, entrance has been blocked off by stone and dirt. Is the whole castle underground?


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    Reading the rest, Thrain could tell that Kurgif was going slowly insane as his journal started to not make any sense the further they read.


    Thorin didn''t care much about what had happened except for the fact there were traps. But Thrain thought about it a lot more. Thrain thought back to his theory of the castle encountering some kind of natural disaster. But what if the dungeon itself was the disaster and somehow absorbed the castle into its own structure and In the process, killing off the residents but missing Kurgif? There were still so many question like how did a whole castle get underground? How would the dungeon even kill people? Although the questions would have to be answered another time.


    After taking in all the new information. They knew where to head next "His Majesty''s" room! They walked down the corridor and got to the first waiting room. There was only the middle corridor now. Walking down it, they took there time since there were meant to be traps around here. The rest the door to the room but Thrain didn''t trust it, if the journal was correct there should be a trap near by. So Thrain picked up a near by stone and threw it in front of the door.


    The stone landed. Whoosh, two huge axes swung down and sliced the stone in half. "Well, luckily you did that." Thorin said. They then pushed open the door. Seeing the throne that was mentioned in the journal. However instead of a skeleton sitting on it, it was now just a couple of bones with the crown on top. Thorin walked up and bowed in respect to the once king. Grabbing his crown and placing it in the sack. While Thorin did that Thrain looked around and saw a desk. He walked over to a desk it had some documents on it that proved that this kingdom was once extremely wealthy. Thrain a bit surprised that he had never heard of it before. There were also some books on the desk that he went to grab to check their contents.


    He heard a subtle clicking sound, then the sound of stone moving while he grabbed the book, not able to fully pull it out. There was a door that had appeared to his right. "A secret room!" Thorin exclaimed. The boys excitedly walked over to the door and peeked inside, it was pitch black and the smell of dust was overpowering. Seeing this Thrain pulled out some of the equipment they bought yesterday out of his bag. "What are you making?" Thorin asked seeing Thrain walking around grabbing some additional items "Just you wait". In front of him he had a wooden pole, a rag, a bottle of oil and the flint and steel. He wrapped the rag around the wooden pole, pouring a little bit of oil on it and striking the flint and steel next to it.


    The rag ignited with flames, he had made a torch. Now they had light and walked down the staircase. Upon reaching the bottom. Thorin ran over seeing the chest of gems, completely ignoring if there were any traps or not. Thrain seeing that Thorin didn''t trigger any traps walked in as well. Besides the gems there was a dagger that had a strange design with four cylindrical containers next to it in the room. The blade seemed normal but the handle had some clear tubes that were designed to go around the hand. Thrain walked up and grabbed the dagger. Weird the tubes were flexible and they seemed to be connected to a lid that opened up on the bottom of the dagger that revealed a hole. .


    Thrain noticed that he could probably pour something in it. Looking towards the containers he he opened them up and saw a alchemic solution in it. He decided to pour a little bit of the liquid in it to see what would happen. Once the liquid touched the tubes they reacted by glowing almost as bright as a torch. Thrain touched it and it wasn''t hot at all so it must not be heat based "This kingdom was more than just wealthy this is extremely advanced technology" Thrain stated out loud. This dagger should come in handy later. So he grabbed the rest of the containers, and put them in his bag and putting the dagger in his belt. Then walked over to Thorin and put all the gems in the ''wealth'' sack. Thorin started calling it that.


    They went back up seeing that there was nothing left and headed back to the second waiting room. There was only one more way to go.

 Chapter 7: Traps, Traps and More Traps

    Reaching the second waiting room, they looked towards the last path. Before heading out the boys stopped and pulled out some food they had packed before they came in. They had roughly enough for one more day. After finishing their meal the boys went down the corridor, fully rested and ready for any dangers.


    "I''m so bored" Thorin whined. They had been walking down this corridor for about two hours now. Thorin was now walking through without a care in a world. Thrain was also almost reaching that point.


    CLICK


    Two axes started to swing down. Thrain immediately reached for Thorin as he he heard the click. Barely making it. From Thorin''s perspective the axes moved in slow motion as they went right past his nose. Thorin sighed at this near death experience "Maybe I should stay focused". "Yes you should, I won''t be saving you next time" Thrain said in a bit annoyance. I wonder if we are in a trap corridor Thrain thought as they walked further in.


    Not even five minutes later they came across another trap. On both sides of the walls were 5 holes. Thrain looked a closer to see if there was a triggering device. There was, it was a small string that was attached to a hole at the bottom of the wall. Thrain assumed that if something was to touch the string it would pull something in the walls that would release whatever the trap was holding. Thorin also noticed this and walked up to the obvious trap. Thrain not too worried since it was hard to avoid. He reached down with his sword in his hand. Gently his cut the string and backed up. Two groups of arrows shot out, one from each side, that clashed together in the middle where whoever trigger the trap should be.


    Seeing this Thrain said out loud "I think this confirms we are in a trap corridor, we should be seeing traps more often now". Thorin turned his head back "I can''t wait!". Thrain picked up some arrows as they passed. Surely enough just a little bit later they encountered the next trap.


    The floor in front of the boys was covered with holes. Thrain knelt down and brought his head to the ground just before the trap, "I don''t see any string or raised tiles. The activation device should be apart of the trap then". Thrain reached into his bag and pulled out some of the arrows and threw them one by one into the trap.


    One of the arrows that landed made a click sound. Then a whistling sound came from the holes and bamboo spears shot up from the ground. Thrain backed up a bit and the bamboo went back down. A couple tests later Thrain realized that after the spears went down they wouldn''t come back for a bit and they managed to easily pass that trap as well.


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    However as soon as they passed the trap the floor beneath them started to crack in multiple places and then began to crumble. "RUN!" Thrain and Thorin tried to run to the end but the floor gave out and they fell through.


    After a couple of seconds the cloud of dirt and dust lessened as well as the sound of the stones rolling quieted down. "THORIN ARE YOU OK!". "Yeah barely, there''s a bunch of spikes underneath the rocks". Hearing this Thrain looked around and could tell that the floor that broke landed on the spikes, at least saving them from doom. They hadn''t fallen that far but enough to traumatize the boys. After calming down Thrain started to think of a plan, the only way they could realistically get out was the ground to one corner to climb up it.


    So they started to move them, well Thorin moved most of them but Thrain at least moved some small ones. As the reached the top and climbed out the stones fell down making a loud crashing sound that vibrated the floor. "Ok, let''s move forward got to reach floor two by the end of the day".


    As the boys were walking down the corridor. Thrain began to notice that the vibration from earlier were still happening, which shouldn''t be possible if all the stones fell and settled on the ground? He thought to himself.


    Now they were getting stronger and stronger. Thrain noticed that the end of the hallway was also ever so slightly getting closer. This panicked Thrain a little bit however they were extremely determined to reach the next floor as soon as possible.


    A bit further in and Thrain looked over to see Thorin with a sombre expression on his face. "Hey Thrain" He pointed forward "Is that a boulder heading straight for us!" Thrain squinted his eyes to see a bit further, surely enough there was an enormous boulder the size of the corridor rolling full speed towards them. "Not again!" Thrain yelled, turned right around and sprinting as fast as he could back to the pit fall trap. Thorin followed suit. The pitfall was in sight. Thrain yelled something out to Thorin and he grinned and nodded.


    A bit before reaching the trap Thorin picked up Thrain with ease and ran madly towards the trap just before falling in he leaped with all his might. At that moment Thrain pulled out all the arrows he had left and threw them at the bamboo spear trap where they were landing, setting it off.


    Time seemed to slow down they were getting closer and closer to the spears, Thrain praying that the trap would retract and be put on reset.


    Just as Thorin''s foot was about to come in contact with the spears they retracted and Thorin landed safely with Thrain, Thrain letting out a large sigh.


    The boulder that was behind them kept rolling until it fell into the pit fall trap, no longer being a danger to the boys.


    Immediately they set off again down the corridor with determination, they would finally be able to rest if they got to the second fall so they pushed past all the emotions they just went through.

 Chapter 8: Too many rooms

    The boys determination disappeared as they entered a room instead of the stairwell to the second floor. Exhaustion was catching up to the boys by this point but they still couldn''t rest for a while and had to just push forward.


    Entering and looking around the room. It seemed to be a study containing a desk and bookshelves that lined the room. As well a door leading to what he assumed to be either the exit another room.


    The boys made haste towards the door. The rooms temperature started to plummet causing the boys to halt with caution. Thrain looked to Thorin seeing his breath in the air. A shiver was sent down Thrains spine. "Thorin you should pull out your sword I don''t think we are alone". Thrain said to Thorin while drawing his weapons as well. A couple of seconds passed it was eerily silent, Thrain was racking his brain trying to find out what creature could make a room this cold without being seen.


    "Without being seen....". There was only one creature it could be.


    A ghost!


    "THORIN!, physical attacks won''t work you will have to dodge" Thrain yelled out. The air getting increasingly colder.


    Whoosh.


    A icy figure flew pass Thorin as he barely moved out of the way. Thorin panicked looked towards the icy figure, It was an older looking man with tattered clothes hovering above the ground that had ice forming. "If we can''t physically attack it, what are we meant to do" Thorin said while preparing to dodge another attack. "Just keep taunting it ill deal with it" Thrain said pulling out one of the core containment box he got from albert''s store. "I have to find its core, just keep running around" Thrain said. "Just get on with it please!" Thorin said worriedly, he didn''t like fighting against a creature he couldn''t do anything against.


    Thrain began to search around the room for the core of the ghost. "When some one dies with a lot of regret they will end up lingering in the living world while being chained by their regret that has manifested into a core. This means that the core is probably some where with signific meaning to the person" Thrain thought to him self.


    There''s only one place Thrain could think of. The desk he dashed towards it looking back at Thorin who was dodging the ghost but could see Thorin running out of breath as the air got colder. Reaching the desk he looked through the draws. "Just paper! Where could it be!" Thrain thinking before opening the last draw to see a translucent icy sphere. Thrain placed the core containment box next to it and picked up the core. It was painfully cold but he knew he had to do this otherwise Thorin would be in more danger. Placing the core inside the box he closed the lid and placed his sword in the top slit and thrusted down as hard as he could seeing the sphere break into multiple shards.


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    "LOOK OUT"


    Thrain looked back to see the ghost charging straight at him. Thrain side stepped the ghost avoiding its charge. Thrain focused on the ghost while attempting to avoid its attacks. "How is it still alive? It should have dissipated!" Thrain thought.


    CRAKLE


    Thrain glanced down at the icy hand that went through some of his clothing causing it to crystalize and break. Thrain dashed backwards. "Thorin get its attention I need to think". "Could it somehow have so much regret that it could have manifested two cores?" Thrain then franticly searching the room, seeing it was only the bookshelves left he ran up to them and started to clear off the books.


    Three quarters through Thrain heard the sound of something hard hitting the ground. There it was the second core. Thrain quickly pulled out the second containment box and placed the core into it, once again enduring the pain. Closing the lid he placed his sword in the slit. Pushing with all his power he shattered the core. Gazing back at the ghost hoping it would be gone for sure this time.


    It was thankfully. Thorin''s clothes had holes all over it from where the ghost had almost got him. Other than that the boys we surprisingly fine albeit being a little out of breath. "Each stage has had multiple parts, do you think this is the same?" Thorin asked Thrain. "I would hope this was the only fight but I doubt it." Thrain said while pulling out a second shirt for Thorin to change into. After they were all prepped and caught there breath they headed towards the door, weapons drawn just encase.


    Entering into the next room they noticed that the room was completely empty except for a large skeletal human in the centre, head down and arms to its sides as if it was not awake. Moving closer to it the skeletal human started to move rigidly, looking like it was waking up from a deep sleep. Thorin looked at Thrain "This one I can hit right?". Thrain gave an affirming nod and Thrain stepped back a bit like he was getting ready for a race. He dashed forward then leapt straight at the skeletal human sword ready to his side.


    As he got in range Thorin with all his might swung horizontally. The sound of metal cutting against the bone could be heard reverberating around the room as Thrain saw the head of the skeletal human come right off.


    Thorin landed and headed towards the door, calling Thrain to follow. "That was pretty easy" Thrain said. As they reached the door they could hear a scraping sound from behind. They looked back and saw the skeletal human getting back up without its head, this time though it wasn''t moving so rigidly. "Guess its time for round two!" Thorin rushing towards it again however this time it wasn''t so much of a one sided battle and the skeletal human was pushing back Thorin a bit.


    Thrain could tell it was the fatigue getting to him. He then started analysing the creature looking for a way to beat it. "It doesn''t need a head to survive, and it was extremely rigid it could just be because it wasn''t awake but it almost had puppet like movement" Thrain thought as he was watching the battle unfold.


    He had an idea but he wasn''t sure. So he snuck around the skeletal human as it was distracted. Watching it from different angles he could now be sure it wasn''t just a skeletal human it was an engineering rat that was controlling it. This was because of the strings that he could just barely see in between the bone that we giving it movement. However knowing this didn''t make it easier as an engineering rat can be hidden anyway in there suits of armour.


    Thrain still had to attack though otherwise Thorin will end up losing. Reading his sword. The moment he had an opportunity his thrusted straight into the chest of the armour.


    Nothing happened except it now turning around and facing Thrain.


    "Uh oh"


    A bony arm was coming straight at him. Thrain lifted his shield to try to distribute a bit of damage. The arm hit the shield throwing him backwards. Then it turned back to Thorin as he was a clearly more of a threat.


    Thrain grasped for air while on the ground the world was spinning around him.


    After a couple of second he was able to breathe again. Sitting up he could see Thorin also getting sent flying with the armour following after him. Seeing Thorin not getting up Thrain knew he had to power through this extreme dizziness. He stood up getting his bearing and rushed straight towards the suit of bone, he would not let his brother DIE!


    With all the might left in him Thrain swung at its arms following through to its legs and then finishing with the other arm.


    As he cut through the last limb, the world started to fade. The only thing he could hear was the sound of loud, terrified squeaking.

 Chapter 9: A Whole New World

    Thrain slowly opened his eyes, aches and pains shot all over his body as he was coming to.


    The walls around him were a lot narrower compared to the room he was just fighting in, He was over Thorin''s shoulder as he carried him down a staircase. A sigh got let out, Thrain couldn''t believe he was still alive after blacking out.


    Thorin hearing his brother wake up put him down on the stairs. "What happened to me when I passed out?" Thrain asked. "Well let me start with, it''s been two day since the fight."


    "That long?!" Thrain questioned worriedly, he must have really used all of his energy in that last hit.


    Thorin continued "After you passed out, I found a rat hidden within the suit and killed it. Then I waited a day for you to recuperate but you didn''t wake up so eventually, I decided to move on because we are almost out of food. And that''s how we ended up here, we are just before the second floor entrance I didn''t want to open it before we went in".


    "Thank you for looking out for me!" Thrain exclaimed with a huge smile while getting up from the stairs. Looking towards where the stairs meet there end, Thrain was surprised to see that instead of a hallway it was connected to a huge wooden door.


    The boys both walked up and started to move it with all there strength. A huge creak reverberated as they opened the door a little. Light started to pour through the crack. Sun light? Underground? Thrain thought, opening it a bit further there was a huge gust of wind but they persisted.


    Once they opened it fully the boys were in absolute awe. The door led out to the top of a mountain in an enormous cavern that went multiple cities length in all directions. This space was seemed to be split into 3 different section which Thrain found odd. These three sections from left to right were


    A large desolate ashen wasteland which if Thrain squinted he could see huge creatures moving around with lava rivers and geysers in some parts.


    The middle section had multiple parts, a large jungle like forest, plains as well as large bodies of water and rivers throughout. Squinting again Thrain couldn''t see because most of it was thick forest however there was some small movements in the plains. Probably some small prey animals Thrain thought.


    The right most section was the complete opposite to the the ashen wasteland. There were snowfields with a small snow covered forests scattered around, large mountains with ice caps and a large frozen lake.


    The boys couldn''t stop staring at the picturesque landscape. Until Thrain took out his book to find out some more information about the floor, and read out loud "The wilds is a dangerous floor that most adventurers fail at. The exit to the final floor is hidden somewhere in with in the landscape around you. If your lucky the dungeon would have a small landscape, but nine times out of ten it''s like a whole other world."


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    The boys hearts sank.


    The exit could be anywhere.


    After a couple minutes of despair both the boys stomachs let out a loud rumble. "HAHAHA" Thorin laughed loudly "well there''s no use worrying we may as well head down and start looking for a place to stay". Thrain nodded and they began to look for a way down.


    Looking down the mountain Thrain could see there were extremely steep parts that would definitely be the end of them but there was also a lot of smooth flat ground mixed in.


    They started to plan a route, Thrain pulling out his rope to tie each other together just encase. "Ok, we''re ready lets go!".


    Walking up to the smooth flat ground they slowly navigated there way down avoiding any really steep steps as they started to lose there breath from the long trek down, they finally reached the canopy of jungle leaves.


    As soon as they went below the leaves the world went from bright and warm to dark and eerie with only small bits of light making it through in random spots.


    Reaching the bottom Thrain and Thorin walked forward surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere. "I think our first goal should be to secure a suitable shelter then food and water. I think that open grassy area we saw from up the mountain might be a nice place to start, a want to get out of here this jungle is giving me a goosebumps"


    Thrain then started to lead them through the jungle.


    On there journey they had to be extra careful of the sound of there boots against the mud as well as the sound of leaves as they pushed through. They had to be careful of this because on the way Thrain had seen the shadows of leaf vipers above whose bodies blended in too well with the leaves. As well as the vine traps that hung close to the trees that could grab them if they weren''t paying attention.


    Slowly as they avoided these dangers the air around them grew less eerie. They were finally about to exit. Thrain put his arm up as the light shone brightly through the leaves as he pushed he way through. Exiting the eerie jungle they entered into a huge field of tall grass that covered them up until there shoulders.


    Looking around there was two things that stuck out to him. One was a clearing in the leaves a bit away which was unusual he would have to check that out later. The second thing was a large cave. "I think we should head to that cave it can be used for our shelter but we should still move carefully we don''t know what''s in this tall grass".


    Saying this they bent down so they were below the tall grass and headed forward to the cave. This time they reached the cave without encountering anything. Peering into the cave Thrain and Thorin''s faces went from excitement to a terrified expression.

 Chapter 10: Surviving

    Inside the cave stood a lion that was double the normal size with a huge horn coming out from its head. The lion was atop a pile of dead nature deer''s that it was slowly making its way through. Observing this sent a shiver down Thrain''s neck "I''m not even sure we can fight something like that!"


    Almost as if jinxing himself for even thinking about the impossible Thorin decided to run straight towards the horned lion. The lion swiftly turned around at the sound of Thorin''s foot steps and it bent down and got ready to pounce once he was in range. Thorin ran a bit closer and...


    ROAR


    The lion launched its attack at Thorin jumping into the air and in response to the lions jump Thorin readied a vertical slash ready for the lion to get in his range. As this was happening Thrain knew he couldn''t just stand back and do nothing so he quietly walked around the edge of the cave eventually reaching the rear of the lion.


    The sound of flesh being ripped apart reverberated as Thorin slashed tore through part of the lions paw. Once the lion landed it backed off a bit glaring at Thorin. Backing closer to Thrain who took this opportunity and started to close the distance between him and the lion once he was closer enough he thrusted his sword deep into the lions rear.


    Another roar was let out, Thrain backed away from it now that he had now made himself known. Soon after though the lions tail stood straight up and then started to move erratically, Thrain could have sworn he saw a pair of eyes and a mouth with fangs grow from the lions tail. Without hesitation the tail charged at Thrain who now had his shield in front of him, The snake like tail smashed against the shield throwing Thrain into the back wall of the cave.


    As the dust cleared a gasping boy could be heard. Lucky he hadn''t sustained and fatal injury asides from minor scrapes and cuts, although Thrain did look down at his shield "Why did it have to break now?" in a defeated tone. Seeing this Thrain hurried to stand up and move as the tail had realised by now that he had survived.


    Thrain started to sprint towards Thorin "We have to get out of here. NOW!" Thorin hearing the desperation in his brothers voice turned towards the entrance and started sprinting. The lion closely behind.


    Running out of the cave the boys saw the tall grass and dove into it, covering themselves in whatever was on the ground. The lion also reaching the outside started to dart around looking for them then he came to a halt and Thrain could hear the sound of it taking in a huge amount of air then letting it out, repeating this for a couple of times before it was satisfied and went back in.


    Sighing a breath of relief the boys stayed low there was one more area for them to check out around here so they slowly made there way through the tall grass. Exiting the clearing the boys found the local watering hole that was connects by a river that went around and behind the cave . Thankfully with no animals near by. The boys got closer to the watering hole and looked at the water. It was crystal clear and they could see so many fish swimming around. The boys got undressed and quickly jumped in the pond too clear of the mud and dirt hopefully getting it out of Thrains wounds. Once cleaned Thrain grabbed one of the huge blades of grass and wrapped them around his wounds.


    "Okay we have a way to get water and food, now we should find some temporary shelter and then we should plan our next course of action". Thorin nodded. They stood up quietly to see if there were any spots nearby. "Look over there" Thorin pointed to a tree that was by its self just on the edge of the jungle. "Good eyes, lets go over and make sure its safe first".


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    Nothing of interest happened on the there. However once there Thrain knelt down and rummaged through his suit case and gave Thorin a rope. "I wont be able to climb that high" pointing to branches that looked tough and plentiful "So you''re going to need to climb up and tie a rope" Thrain said to Thorin who said in response "I get to eat the first thing we catch around here" Extending his hand. Thrain groaned a little bit cursing internally about the fact he was physically weaker but shook his hand solidifying the deal.


    Thorin made it look easy as he skilfully made his way up to the floor of branches tying off the rope to the main trunk and letting it down.


    POF.


    It landed and Thrain made his way up. Arriving at there new temporary residents Thrain jumped a little bit but sure enough the branches held his weight without budging a bit. The only downside of this shelter was the lack of roof but Thrain was at least eighty percent sure that it couldn''t rain in here. They then separated into two different sections of the tree where they could leave their spare belongings for a bit and then they regrouped back in the middle.


    "What''s our next plan of action" Thorin questioned. "First I think we make our way back to the watering hole and collect some of the fish, shouldn''t be too difficult then from up here we can observe what goes on below" Thrain answered.


    Over the next 30 minutes or so the boys collected some of the fish from the pond leaving enough behind and set up a campfire in the... tree?


    Thrain didn''t like the idea but setting it up down below would be much more dangerous so they grilled up the fish and to Thrains surprise didn''t burn down there new base. Thrain handed the first fish over to his brother as per the agreement then dug into his fish. The fish was fishy and salty nothing out of the ordinary. After this they began to observe both the cave and the pond.


    Over the next two hours Thrain reported that a lot of smaller animals and medium size animals like the nature deer showed up to drink although none of them attacked each other, Then there was a roar coming from the cave. Yep the lion. It was almost like it was announcing it was coming out because as soon as the animals heard the roar they all scattered and the lion appeared.


    Besides this there was two things that Thrain noticed. One being that the injury inflicted by Thorin had now healed already, "It must have an incredible rate of healing" Thrain though to him self. The second thing was that the tail had gone back to being a normal tail.


    Seeing this Thrain had to make sure of one thing.


    He told Thorin about his plan, he was reluctant to let Thrain go through with this but it was be crucial information for the final battle with the lion.


    Sneaking up behind it while it was at the watering hole Thrain picked up a rock and threw it at the lion to see what would happen. The tail started to move erratically again growing another pair of eyes and a mouth. Just had Thrain thought "It''s snake like tail only happens when its rear is attacked". Thrain crawled back to the tree avoiding the surveying eyes of the lion.


    "Thorin I have an idea on how we can beat the lion!" Thrain hurriedly said.

 Chapter 11: The cave

    The boys peered into the cave it was time to execute the plan Thrain came up with. Thorin screamed to grab its attention, which did the job. It rose from its slumber and stared down Thorin.


    Now that its attention was on Him, Thrain could contribute to his part of the plan so he snuck into the cave following the wall until he was behind the lion. Drawing his sword waiting for the perfect opportunity.


    Back to Thorin he was taunting the lion by screaming and hitting his sword into the ground, at first it didn''t seem like the lion cared much, He hit the ground again sending a louder sound around the cave. Then.


    It pounced.


    Thorin in anticipation lifted his sword up to block the lion that was coming down with both of its paws. It landed and Thorin kept pushing it back. This was the perfect opportunity. Thrain run up to the lion and just like with the engineering rat Thrain, he clenched his hand tightly around his handle remembering how it felt. Then swung with all his might at the lions tail.


    He kept his eyes open, taking in the slash he just accomplished. It tore straight through the lions tail cleanly, no blood spilling. Until THUMP the tail landed off to the side blood now gushing out of it. The room fell silent nothing could be heard except for the flowing blood.


    After realising what had just happened the lion screeched in pain jumping away from the two. The boys walked closer to it, corning it. Thrain looked down to his hand. "I''m not sure how but I''m still able to move and it feels like I can even swing my sword like that sword at least two more times". Thinking this Thrain was ready to unleash that slash on the lion again.


    But, Thorin beat him to it. He jumped into the air sword over head and with the help of gravity he attack became unblockable and cleaved straight through the lions skull not as cleanly as Thrain, the lion fell back, but it did the job.


    Thorin and Thrain laid back on the floor they did it! laying there for a while just taking it in since. "This will be our new home" They thought to them selves. Eventually they got up and headed back to the tree to grab all of their stuff to relocate to the cave.


    Then the boys cooked the lion, It shouldn''t be poisonous Thrain quietly said under his breath. It took longer to cook because of how tough the lion meat was but it was worth it as the boys kept shoving more and more of it into there stomach until there was too huge stone like people in the middle of the cave sleeping peacefully.


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    The next morning Thrain looked around the cave, He didn''t expect much except for how nicely it was located. However in the corner of his eye he could see that under some of the dust and dirt were a bunch of thick wooden like branches. Theses must have been the horns of the nature deer''s that the lion killed. He dusted off the horns, some looked like finishing rods others suits of armour. "I would not want to be a deer that grew these kinds of things on my head" Thrain thought. Sifting through all the shapes Thrain found one that was close enough to being round, He laid it on the ground and drew his sword and slashed down with all of his might.


    Not even a single scratch. "Well I found my replacement shield" picking it up and then making a makeshift handle to hold it. After his search he headed back to Thorin at the centre of the cave.


    "Okay, shelter got, water secured and food we can hunt when we need. We have every essential thing we need to survive" Thrain said. "So, we only need to focus on finding the door right?" Thorin said in response. Thrain nodded and they started to formulate how they wanted to search. It was very simple they would explore the rest of this main strip first, then move to the fiery hellscape, finally searching the winter wonderland. After the planning they took a well founded rest.


    Waking up Thrain had a sense of relief wash over him now that most of there worries were solved. He got up went out for a drink and headed back in. Shortly after Thorin also woke up. So the boys put on there equipment and headed out behind the cave following the river that was flowing into the watering hole.


    The boys had been trekking along for around thirty minutes, they didn''t see any new creatures or the door to the next floor but soon after the thirty minutes they came to a huge lake that had a green film over it making it basically impossible to see anything below it. The lake was also encompassed by a forest that Thorin could have sworn he heard chuckling from.


    "I think we might have to swim in the lake. What if the doors down there?" Thrain said begrudgingly, taking off his gear and diving into the lake, Thorin following suit.


    Down below the green film Thrain opened his eyes and as expected he couldn''t see a single thing. Regardless he continued to swim around feeling for anything that resembled a door, nothing, he came up for a breath of air and repeated. After some time both the boys headed out of the lake since they couldn''t feel anything.


    Getting out of the lake Thrain noticed a stinging pain on multiple parts of his body looking at the pain revealed. Leeches that were probably double the size. He tried to pull it off but it bit deeper, he could also see his brother in the same predicament. Panic started to set in. "I can''t pull them off they just dig in deeper and deeper!!". Thrain looked around in his backpack too see if there was anything. Rope, but that would just make them dig in deeper. Flashes, but they would still just stay on. Oil and matches, but then there is the rest of burning himself.


    He looked at the situation again, nothing in the environment could help. "Why are their eyes so red and large? What if..." Thrain thought to himself. Thrain went into his bag again. He reached for it, the dust that can help cure mental confuse. "They might be enraged! If so I have a plan!" yelling over to Thorin who was still holding on. He pinched a bit of dust out of the pouch and sprinkled it all around him. He felt there grip loosen, quickly he pulled them off.


    Thrain did the same to Thorin. "Next time lets be careful diving into unknown lakes" Thorin said a bit out of breath. After this incident Thrain could feel the loss of blood affecting him so they decided to call it quits for today and head back to the cave.

 Chapter 12: Exploring further

    After resting up, it was time for them to head back to the forest.


    As they walked up to the forest Thorin swore he could still hear the chuckling that he heard from last time. Thrain was surprised that Thorin could hear so far into the forest. Despite not hearing anything Thrain still decided to be extra careful, Thorin''s instincts were almost never wrong.


    They got closer and closer as the canopy began to loom over them. The forest going from expansive, beautiful with light piercing through the leaves to deep, dark and silent. They walked in deeper heading in one direction cautiously.


    Time passed for an unknown amount. Have we even been going straight ahead? Are there zero animals in here? What if we''ve veered of course? Question rushed to Thrains head as his alertness waivered.


    Suddenly a whistling sound from above broke the silence of the forest.


    Thrain barely managed to roll the word off his tongue.


    "Dive!"


    They hit the ground as a barrage of small stones moving at incredible speeds fell where they had just been standing. Following the stones, multiple crackling sounds landed in the forests overgrowth. Thrain quickly got of the ground and looked towards the sounds.


    He froze. A petrified look now on his face.


    Thorin who had already got up could see three humans? No, not humans but very similar. They had the full shape of a human except the mass amount of fur on their bodies accompanied by long tail that seemed to be moving through the ground, searching.


    The three humanoids were now walking towards them with their tails wrapped around the rocks that had been previously thrown, At least that''s what Thorin could see.


    Thrain on the other hand also saw the humanoids. However it was also as if the world would switch back to before the dungeon and the image of a rotting man, the one that Thrain had killed was slowly crawling towards him screaming "You did this to me, You''re the reason I''m dead". The scene Thrain was seeing keep flicking back and forth. Seeing the man again cause Thrain to be paralysed with fear.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The humanoids were now almost within lethal throwing distance. Thorin noticing his brother''s face frozen in fear. He grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. Running as fast as he could while the monkeys pelted Thorin''s back. luckily most reflected off his great sword while some just grazing him. The onslaught of rocks continued, Thorin trying to dodge as many as he could. Crack. both the boys started to fall to the ground. Thorin slamming the ground first hitting his head.


    Lying there in the overgrowth of the forest Thrain not seeing the flash backs anymore saw his brother on the ground one leg wounded Thrain thought. However looking closer he could see that his bone was piercing his flesh.


    "THORIN! Can you hear me!" Thrain cried out to his brother, no response. Thrain pulling himself up went to check on his brother. However as he pulled himself up he could hear the sound of another rock as it hit against Thorin''s other leg. Thrain ran over sword and shield drawn. The three humanoids approached. Thrain felt rage build up inside. Push it back calming himself he knew this was no time to let rage take over, he had to be calm.


    He took a deep breathe, eyes wide open and fully focused. Shoosh one rock came. He put his shield in the way of its trajectory, bouncing of the shield. Another came, again he put his shield up. Getting closer and closer. Two more came one from the left easy enough for him to block, The one on the right however he couldn''t reach with his shield in time so he followed its path closely. Strength mustered in his hand as much as he could and swung. The blade in a smooth motion went straight through the rock.


    The humanoids now frozen with fear. With strength still in his hand now focusing even more strength into his legs as well, too the point that veins could be seen pulsing he dashed forward. The scene of the man appeared again as he approached. Your the one that attacked us and killed yourself, your death is not on my hands. Sword raised he swung twice in quick succession. The humanoid on the right got slashed straight down until half way where Thrain changed the trajectory and went out of that humanoids body and straight through the one next to it. Blood went everywhere as the last monkey barely having time to react jumped up into one of the closest trees and scurried through the treetops as fast as it could.


    Thrain walked over to his brother, ripped shirt in hand and tied it tightly around his brothers leg. The bleeding seemed to stop with that. So Thrain lifted his brother over his shoulder. Once again put all of his strength into his legs and ran as fast as he could back to the cave. Reaching the cave Thrain laid his brother on his bed. First thing''s first Thrain went for the pouch of dust and pinched some of it and let his brother breathe it in hopefully alleviating any side effects from hitting his head. He also opened the book he had bought to help fix injuries and wounds.


    He flicked through the pages desperately looking for anyway to help his brother. He found a page that mentioned fractured bones and the page after it mentioned when they stick out of the body. Following the page, The first thing he did was bring over fresh water to flush out the wound then wrapped a new cloth around it. Thrain let out a sigh of relief. That would help the wound to not get any worse. Reading the page further. He found out he needed three ingredients; Blood sack of a giant leech, Vines from a Vine trap, and a flower called the calce flower.


    Each ingredient had a pictures with annotations depicting how to harvest the ingredients as well as how to use them. Thrain spent as much time as he could to memorize everything that was on the page.


    After doing so it was time to head out.

 Chapter 13: Gathering

    Leaving the cave Thrain headed to the closest ingredient which was the vine trap''s vines. Entering the jungle where the boys saw them last time, Thrain quickly located a vine trap snacking on one of the leaf vipers corpses.


    Thrain treaded lightly making it closer and closer to the trap then in one quick motion stabbed its head, killing it swiftly. Then sliced its holding gland releasing everything inside it, making it easier to detach from the tree. Taking its remains back to the cave, then heading immediately to the next ingredient.


    The next ingredient he aimed for was the calce flower which is know to be located at the top of tall trees. There was only one place that Thrain could think of, the large forest behind the pond.


    Reaching the forest Thrain could hear the chuckling now that he is aware of the dangers that lie inside. Sword and shield equipped, Thrain could feel a hot sensation swelling up inside him. Noticing the sensation Thrain pushed the feeling further down and took a deep breath.


    Composure returning to his face as he walk in. As soon as he was fully under the canopy of leaves Thrain could hear the sound of wind parting behind him, turning around shield held up in response. BANG. A rock smashed against his shield. lowering the shield Thrain could see three new humanoids landing on the forests overgrowth.


    Clenching his sword as tightly as he can, he walked up to them. One jumped at him claws extended, slashing at his face. Swiftly moving his blade to intercept it. His blade landed between the humanoids claws as Thrain ducked under and slashed, slicing from the claws all the way to its shoulder. Thrain ignored the thump as it''s lifeless body landed.


    Seeing this one of the humanoids backed up and started gather rocks, while the other one moved forward. Getting impatient Thrain slashed at the humanoid with all his might. The humanoid dodged to the right of the slash as he threw a counter attack scratching a bit of Thrains arm, as a rock also came from his left side and grazing the side of his torso as well. The humanoid that was now very close to Thrain hadn''t expected it but after Thrain missed his slash, he had directed even more of his strength into his grip and changed the direction of his attack slicing straight threw it.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    One left . Thrain lifted his shield up blocking the trajectory of the rocks as he pushed forward. Seeing the rocks not landing the humanoid turned to run away, however Thrain shifted his grip on his sword cranking his arm back like he was preparing to throw a javelin and threw his sword. The sword flew true and straight into the humanoids back knocking it to the ground. Walking over as it tried to get back up Thrain lifted his sword out of the humanoid before thrusting it back in, flicking the blood off his blade as he removed it again.


    There will probably be more I should move quickly. Heading to the closest tree he began to climb it. Going higher and higher untill he reached the canopy. Pushing past it he could see now see the light. Pulling him self up and looking around he quickly spotted a calce flower. Quickly he moved towards it. But then he also noticed the sound of the leaves rustling a little bit too much. Huh? Turning around Thrain could see close to 20 humanoids sprinting across the canopy.


    Thrain spun back around, starting to sprint as fast as he could. Mustering up all his strength again pushing it into his legs. He dashed. Being pursued by the group of humanoids he ran to the calce flower grabbing it as he passed hoping he didn''t damage it to bad. As he grabbed it he looked forward, the edge of the canopy came into view. Well here goes nothing! Closing his eyes, holding the flower close he made the leap of faith.


    Splash.


    The world went silent around Thrain as he opened one eye, water rushing into it. He''d made it into the frenzied leeches lake. Holding his breath he swam out of the lake. Putting the flower on the ground, he quickly tighter his grip on his sword. However the humanoids just sat there watching from the canopy. Seeing this Thrain''s tension lessened only to notice the leech on his arm. swiftly grabbing the pouch and sprinkling the dust on the leech. Its teeth letting go. Before it fell to the ground Thrain caught it remembering it contained the last ingredient he needed. Using the rest of his strength he made it back to the cave as quickly as he could.


    Reaching it he quickly got to getting the tools he needed to prepare the ingredients. One sharp rock, a stone bowl and small blunt rock. He also went to the watering hole to soak the vine trap''s vine before coming back to the cave.


    First step: placing the calce flower into the bowl and crushing it until it became a paste.


    Second step: slicing the leaves and the harder parts off the vine.


    Third step: with the sharp rock he cut the leech from the bottom to the top, and flipping it open like a book and carefully removing its blood sack.


    Forth step: paste in one hand Thrain clenched his teeth and pushed His brothers bone back into place and applying the paste to the damaged areas.


    Fifth step: placing the blood sack and connecting it to the inside of where the wound occurred pumping blood to help close it.


    Lastly: wrapping the vine tightly around the leg to ensure that it doesn''t move while healing.


    Thrain watched closely for the next couple of hours. At first it seemed like Thorin was getting worse, but now his colour is returning to his face. Seeing this alleviated Thrains worries. Now he had time to focus on his wounds, patching them up was nothing compared to Thorin''s injury.


    After watching Thorin for another two days Thrain knew his brother wouldn''t get any worse.

 Chapter 14 Training

    Seeing his brother in his current state, Thrain knew he had to work on himself and become stronger than his brother to make sure this never happens again.


    First thing I should probably test is how many times I can use my max strength and how long it takes to recover.


    Heading outside Thrain held his sword in front of himself and muster out all of his strength and slashed, then again. Repeating this another two times Thrain figured out he could use his max strength at least four times, having a little bit left over to still do some things. Now he waited, tending to Thorin and trying not to use to much strength.


    An hour had passed so Thrain went outside to try again. He could slash another four times, meaning he recovers four strength an hour. I''ve got to test this a couple more times though because what if there''s a drop off for the recover and it gets worse over time? So he tested again and again finding out that he could recover four strength every hour for four hours but on the fifth hour he could only recover half of his strength in the hour.


    Ok, so I can attack with all my strength four times. Not nearly enough to be of any real use. Time to train. I think I''m going to try to double my current strength. Thinking to him self he headed back out side, dropping to the ground and imminently doing push ups while using his full strength. After about 400 push ups in a row he passed out.


    Waking up again he repeated throwing in some slashes and a variety of other exercises.


    Minutes turned into hours, hours into days and finally one month had passed.


    Thrain headed out like usual to train going to do push ups but this time instead of four hundred push ups he manged to do sixteen hundred. Quadrupling his first attempts. Thrain had realised that while doing push ups, if he controlled his strength he could push out exactly half his strength which would make him last even longer during battle giving him more options such as switching between half and full strength attacks.


    It took much longer than I would have liked but I can now managed eight full strength attacks and sixteen half strength attacks but I don''t know - Thrain''s eyes wondering over to Thorin''s body that is now fully healed however he is still unconscious - I don''t think it will be enough with just my strength alone I''m going to need to improve my technique - looking out of the cave and into the field he sees a nature deer running around In a playful manner. Upon closer inspection though Thrain noticed that instead of running at consistent speeds they are actually using little bursts of speed. I wonder?This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Sneaking up and getting closer, Thrain observed the deer. When threatened the deer would use bursts of strength to accelerate quickly catching there predators off guard. Looking closer at their legs he could see as the strength they use pulsed its way down their leg, starting from the base of the leg moving to the thigh, the calve, finally going to the foot giving the foot explosive strength when they kicked off the ground.


    Thrain tried to replicate the deer''s precise control of their strength, gathering all of his strength in the base of one of his legs but as the strength started to move down to the thigh. A tear could be heard, Thrain looking down at his leg where blood''s now coming out of different areas. Nothing worse than Thorin''s. So he tried again in his other leg.


    This time more carefully, He could feel where he went wrong and reigned in his strength pushing it all from the base of his leg down the thigh feeling some more resistance he held it for a second moulding it within his body. Then proceeding to push again now into the calf, followed by his foot.


    Strength filling his foot, he pushed down on the ground. Boom. The ground cracked as Thrain used 1 of his eight strength which sent him flying forward, unable to land properly Thrain just rolled on the ground. Dusting him self off he rose again and tried this time with half of his strength instead. With less strength the ground didn''t crack nearly as much but he was still sent pretty far and really quickly, landing this time.


    A day later Thrain leg was healed and he tested consistently moving with his new technique first he ran to the lake which previously took around 30 minutes or so. Now took him less than 5 minutes to get to. Afterwards he tested the combo potential. He held his sword while he used short burst to move around a small area and slash as he lands.


    This gave Thrain a new way to evade attacks as well as close distance. Realizing the potential for learning through animals movement he embarked to look for some more new as well as some older animals.


    Exploring a bit he came across a couple of animals but the one that caught his eye the most was a horned rabbit which was up against a nature deer. The deer tried to stop down on the rabbit in response the rabbit dodged to the right and immediately stabbed its horn into its leg. This repeat for a while the rabbit dodging and stabbing, eventually the rabbit gathered its strength and put it into a single point. It released the single point of strength, thrusting and piercing the deer''s eye going straight through its skull.


    Thrain continued to watch the rabbit for a few days, testing the stab whenever he could but he couldn''t get it just right. Frustrated, he headed back to the cave to take a rest. Reaching the cave Thrain could feel something wasn''t right. Looking back out towards the plains Thrain could see an eye piercing behind the tree they once stayed at.


    It was the same eye as the previous owner of the cave.