Everyone gathered in the Tanis kitchen, the dungeon door waiting before them.
Aiden double-checked his cloak. The potions inside rattled faintly, as if confirming their presence.
Around him, the others seemed nervous.
Especially Thalia, to Aiden's surprise.
Then again, she had been sneak-attacked in the first dungeon and had almost been hit by the poison arrows. It just happened that Liora and Kaelen had been faster targets.
As they stood by the door, Aiden grabbed his bag and pulled out six Potions of Vigilance.
"Everyone takes one and drinks it before we go in," Aiden said. "The effects last for an hour and make it harder for enemies to surprise us by sneaking up."
He handed them out.
Everyone drank their potion, and Aiden gathered the empty vials before placing them back into his bag.
For a moment, they all looked between one another.
Then they reached for the door.
One by one, they broke apart into sparks and were whisked away into the dungeon.
From their first dungeon, Aiden had expected dim, cramped hallways lined with ancient brick.
Instead, this dungeon was fully illuminated. Metal panels layered the walls, and the lighting was steady enough that Kaelen, who had been holding an unlit torch, started awkwardly putting it away.
Ahead of them, a wall divided the tunnel into left and right paths.
Liora shrugged.
"Guess this one has better lighting."
They walked to the end of the hallway, where the paths split.
Jax, Liora, and Kaelen were closer to the right side, while Selene, Thalia, and Aiden were closer to the left.
"D-don't the monsters only appear when the items are disturbed?" Selene asked, looking between everyone. "Why not just explore for now?"
Everyone nodded.
The agreement was simple.
Selene, Thalia, and Aiden would go left.
Jax, Liora, and Kaelen would go right.
Before the groups split, Aiden reached into his bag and handed Jax, Kaelen, and Liora three antidotes and three healing potions.
They nodded, then started down their hallway.
Aiden's group did the same.
Their hallway was short, no longer than ten feet or so before turning and curving to the right. From there, they could either continue straight or turn left.
Selene led them left.
They were met by another hallway similar to the entrance, with a wall dividing paths to the left and right.
As they continued, Aiden let Thalia and Selene go ahead while he used his spear to mark the tunnel behind them.
Selene seemed to be following a popular adventuring philosophy for dealing with mazes. It had even been mentioned in The Seven Stars book series.
The Rule of Left.
If you were in a maze, always go left. Eventually, at minimum, you would find your way back to the entrance.
Following that rule, they made their way down another hallway, turned left, and saw lights around a bend.
Also to the left.
Because apparently, the rule was very committed to its own theme.
They rounded the bend and found a strange room.
It was mechanical in every sense of the word.
A low hum came from below them, like a strange engine buried beneath the floor. Some of the floor panels had been replaced with grated catwalks, allowing them to see down into a massive carbuncle engine.
Along the walls were several tubes. Inside them sat strange mechanical things. Gears spun slowly along their frames, almost like massive windup toys waiting to be released.
For now, they were inert.
Silent.
Motionless in their pods.
"Welp," Thalia said, pointing to the right of the doorway they had entered through. "We found at least one, if not two of the items."
Sure enough, two simple wooden chests sat there.
They contrasted sharply with the rest of the dungeon, especially the mechanical room around them.
Everyone looked between one another and reached the same silent agreement.
Leave them alone for now.
Grabbing them would not have been too difficult. The problem was doing so without half the party present. If there were two items, they could accidentally summon two waves of enemies at once.
So instead, they continued looking around.
Selene was drawn to the pods. She leaned close, studying the mechanisms with curious interest.
Thalia, on the other hand, was hanging from the catwalk and inching toward the large engine below, as if trying to study it from underneath.
Aiden was drawn to something else.
Across the room was a bronze-colored panel with blue glowing glass.
He stepped up to it.
The glass shifted, almost like a System screen, and displayed three options.
Notes Log - Last Entry Updated 3 Days Ago
Production List
Higher Clearance Login
Aiden was not sure what to select, so he started from the top.
He tapped the Notes Log.
The screen changed.
Log 231 - March 12, 5328
Login Info: Dr. Einwright
I am well aware of the approaching war and what it means, especially with what is at stake, but they are running me ragged here.
They wanted me to upgrade the Sutar units to be able to hunt down the Masks.
Not even the damn Elephant and his whole group could accomplish that.
What in the hells are a bunch of partially biocybernetic soldiers supposed to do that the strongest of the worlds cannot?
I am a damn good scientist, but that is too high a hurdle for me to jump.
If it were not for the assistance of the Acadia Kingdom's massive treasury and its collection of materials and items, I would have refused on principle.
I am in too deep now, so I have to at least try.
But I promise nothing.
I just hope the fact that they are gathering the Fateless does not mean they plan to replace me.
Update - Edits Made: August 5, 0016
I always knew Mammon and his group were headstrong, but the fact that they have not given up is ludicrous.
They lost the first war, and four of the worlds were destroyed in the process.
What in the hells do they believe they will achieve by trying again with a second war?
I have refused to participate this time.
Frankly, I do not want to draw the ire of Red again.
As Aiden read, confusion grew in his mind.
This looked like a journal from thousands of years ago. The worst part was that since the gods stepped down and were replaced every ten thousand years, he had no idea if this was almost five thousand years old, fifteen thousand, twenty-five thousand, or more.
But that was not what made his blood turn cold.
It was the mention of that man.
Red.
Every child knew the stories.
The masked man who was less a person and more a walking calamity.
There were legends that he had destroyed entire kingdoms because he disliked the flavor of a pastry he tried at a café. The kingdoms could not stop him even when they tried.
And gods knew they had tried.
Some believed he was the King of the Hells himself.
Others believed he was a vengeful god who refused to give up his position and now wandered the world out of spite.
But what made him terrifying was not just his power.
It was that he was sporadic.
Chaotic.
One moment, he might flick his hand and skin someone on a whim.
The next, he might walk into a kingdom's castle, grab the entire treasury vault, carry it over his shoulder, and hand it to an orphanage.
There were even rumors that he had recently become a teacher at Omnimagic Academy.
But there was one rule everyone knew.
You did not say his name aloud.
Because somehow, despite nobody knowing how, he always knew when someone said it.
And if he was bored, he might stop by.
Selene and Thalia noticed Aiden's expression and rushed over.
"Aiden," Thalia asked, her strings already prepared like garrote wires. "What is wrong? What happened?"
Aiden swallowed.
"T-t-this place has something to do with the Smiling Mask."
Selene and Thalia froze.
Neither moved.
Not even an eyelid.
The color drained from both their faces.
"I-I'll get the others," Selene said. "W-we need t-to get out of h-here."
She rushed toward the hallway.
Aiden forced himself to keep reading.
I am currently hiding with a friend, Mr. L, in Misagen.
I will not participate in another war.
If you are of the Sons of Blue, do not look for me. I refuse to serve you in this war anymore.
If you are of the Masks, I plan to avoid this war and hold no part.
Please leave me alone.
Aiden's mind raced.
What war?
If Red had participated in a war, it should have been etched into every history book for the next hundred thousand years.
Red had never participated in any wars.
Had he silenced everyone who knew?
Were they now marked for death because they knew?
What was a Son of Blue?
Before Aiden could spiral further, Selene returned with the others.
Jax looked confused.
Kaelen and Liora were pale.
They understood enough.
"Guys, I still don't get why we have to leave so quickly," Jax said. "There aren't even any monsters awake yet. Plus, we haven't gotten any items."
Liora looked like she was trying to explain that the less he knew, the less likely he was to make the mistake of saying the forbidden word while thinking of something other than the color.
Jax opened his mouth, clearly ready to argue.
Then he looked at Thalia.
Her usual stoicism was gone.
In its place was panic.
Jax went pale.
He finally realized something was terribly wrong.
Everyone sprinted toward the dungeon entrance.
They moved as fast as they could.
It still felt like a snail's pace.
They needed to run.
To get in the vehicle.
To drive away.
Not to another town.
Not to another kingdom.
A different continent.
They needed to escape.
They rounded the corner, racing for the doorway.
Then the world slowed.
Every step felt like a hundred years.
Aiden saw true fear take shape in front of him.
A small stream of sparks began forming above the floor.
Red has entered the dungeon:
Vault of the Mad Mage.