"By Arvos's right hand…Lad—" Uthred said as both his hands gripped his silver hair, "What have I done?"
He looked onward at the cracking orange arcs of power snapping against the walls of the large room he stood in. An Altar of Thyrox stood in the centre with broken furniture littering the rest of it. None of that mattered, no. The vortex of crimson power—almost completely covered by divine power was the centre of his attention.
"Come on… think," he said as he rapped the top of his head with his knuckles, "Yup, knew it. The teachings don't cover sending an Unawakened boy into the pit of hell itself. Why would they?! That'd be gods-damn stupid."
The arcs of orange-yellow divine power shot out both entranced and terrified him. The Twins' ever watchful presence was entirely focussed on the rift in front of him—the same one Elias had gone through.
"How did you even enter it?! Blast, it doesn't even matter!"
Uthred parsed through his mind as he tried to understand how he'd got in this mess: A gateway to the accursed hells appearing in the Ancient Ruins of Mentrais. It shouldn't have been possible. Only in the old texts could they find any mention of such evil creations.
"Elias, please… No, Arwen, please let the boy be safe. Or by both of your divine names, I'll be dead!" He said.
What had he done to the boy. It wouldn't be long before the divine might of the Gods severed the connection the hell gate had to their blessed realm. His instincts told him that he couldn't follow after him either.
He took a breath, there was more than the boy at stake here. A gateway appearing at an altar to the Calamity-King itself? Aberration attacks across the entire Empire? Ironside's desperate rush to unearth… well, it was too much, all at once, to be a coincidence.
Uthred reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out a blue rock, he squeezed it gently as he pushed a few thousand mana into it. It glowed for a few moments as he sent mental commands. After a few more moments, he placed the rock gently in the air at chest level, took his hand away, and observed it for a second to ensure it stayed in place.
"I'm sorry, lad. I need… I need to tell the council. Please… Survive."
Was it a well? No, Elias didn't think it was. He'd walked down the passage for over an hour, only to arrive at a much larger, circular cavern. The same dark fog that he'd observed in the open mesa obscured the ceiling and a large gaping hole in the centre of this circular cavern.
Elias couldn't understand why the dungeon limited its vertical view, but, that's what this damned place does. Fuck you over.
Setting aside the questions in his mind, he stared down into the darkness of the pit. He paced slowly around the edge of the drop. The 'pathway' around the edge extended about ten meters and encircled what most have been a hundred-meter wide hole. The familiar crystal and moss decorating the walls and floor.
Elias kicked a stone loose, picked it up and then threw it into the expanse. He waited and watched as the stone fell through the dark fog, but, no sound returned as it faded from his vision.
His façade of calmness was starting to break as his heart raced, "Why?" he said, his voice rising as he vented his frustrations, "Why is it that every single gods-forsaken stage of this dungeon, involves complete and utter disregard for my own life?!"
A system prompt appeared before him:
[Sub-Objective Complete: Find the Well of Enlightenment: 1/1]
[New Sub-Objective: Enter the Well: 0/1]
This time around, the system had not only forgotten his reward for completing the sub-objective, but it had decided to openly mock him. Elias had initially smiled with self-satisfaction upon entering the area, the familiar prompt glazing across his view. He was just about ready for his hard work to pay off—especially as he considered this task significantly harder than killing ten creatures.
But, no.
Instead, he was left pacing around the god-forsaken hole in the ground. For almost four months, Elias had been walking a fine line between complete indifference to his own survival, and a desperate need to push through and defy the odds stacked against him. He found that every action he took and every counter-action against him shook him just over the line one way or another. This task? This task was definitely making him lean towards indifference—there would be no bravery in jumping into an obscenely large pit; obscured by System magic.
How far down was the jump? Was there even water at the bottom?
The quest forced him to decide the impossible. To complete the quest, he had to relinquish his control over his own survival and jump into inevitable death, or, he could not jump and the system would decide to impose the failure 'reward'. That was also death.
It seemed like a test. Was the Dungeon testing him, or the system? Why would they test him?
"This whole thing is mad," he said as laughter escaped him, "Absolutely fucking mad!"
His heart was pounding fast within his chest as a spike of adrenaline shot through him, his palms growing sweaty.
"It's fine; the System wouldn't give you a quest you couldn't complete… right, eh, Elias?" he said.
"Could be fun, right?!" he continued, still laughing.
"It's only a small drop!" he said as his own hysterical laughter echoed across the room, quickly transformed into uncontrollable anxiety.
"You know what else would help?! Food. Right, that delicious food!" He thought.
His now trembling, sweaty hand reached into his left-side pouch and he pulled out a small clump of moss, he brought it towards his mouth, still laughing. Barely conscious of his feet shuffling closer to the edge as loose pebbles skittered into the hole.
Then, without warning, his body lurched forwards.
It was as if he'd been stabbed in the back as his own body betrayed him.
His laugher twisted into terror.
"SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIII—"
He couldn't stop his own body as it pulled him over the edge of the pit, and he fell.
As he fell, the dark fog seemed to approach at a snail's pace, his mind overloaded as his returning rationality and complete devastation took hold.
Cold air lashed at his face as he connected with the layers of obscuration. It felt as though the now icy air would pierce his skin as he pushed through it. His vision was fading to darkness. He felt his momentum increase more and more.
The inability to comprehend the distance he had fallen, and the distance left to fall caused his heart to lurch.
He screamed.
He screamed in pure terror. It didn't matter how much willpower you had; this way beyond madness. What had he done? He couldn't see. He knew he he'd been falling for more than twenty seconds.
What did that mean?
It meant he was dead when he landed. Fucking. Dead. "Arvos, Arwen—Save me!" he thought.
He'd pray to Uthred's fucking gods if it meant he'd survive th—his vision returned.
Colours in the form of crystals blurred around him as his momentum continued downwards in the expansive pit. The obscuring fog fading before vanishing entirely.
He was through it. He looked downwards at his approaching demise.
"Water!" He thought, "Yes! Water! Dark crimson, bubbling… no! No, no!"
"WHhyy?!" he yelled.
He channelled all the mana he could muster, forcing it through his channels as he engaged the runes of Mana Barrier, instinctually pushing his body in an attempt to survive.
Less than ten seconds.
Five…
Two…One…
SPLASH!
Elias hit the water with a force that shattered his hold on his Mana Barrier entirely, and his breath was forced out as he submerged in the warm crimson. As he did, a familiar sensation gripped him.
Simultaneously: he felt the cracking of his bones.
Caught between agonising pain and rapture, he realised the crimson was the same… It was…
[Essence: 8/10]
He was fully submerged in the thick water. It's grasp tried to soothe him, to embrace him with refreshing power—there was no chance of that, he flailed his broken feet as pain coursed through his entire body as he tried to push to the surface. His hands clawing at his face as the refreshing warmth turned to a burn.
[Essence: 31/10]
He kept pushing, forcing his legs to continue as he tried to push aside the pain of forcing his limp limbs through the fluid. His mind was reeling in every direction—he needed to get out of the water, he needed to do something. Pain was threatening to overthrow his consciousness and the Essence? It felt…good…
[Essence: 56/10]
Too good. The Essence was increasing too fast. "Come on, come on! Don't die here!" he screamed internally.
He felt a coolness touch the top of his head: the surface! He reached up, trying to pull himself through the water. He gasped desperately as his lips passed the threshold.
Elias opened his eyes to take in his surroundings as the cool relief embraced his face. Dimly lit crystals laced an open-cavernous ceiling. He was under the hole and just in the distance—he could see a five-meter high ceiling to the carvern, just outside of the holes diameter.
[Essence: 76/10]
He was pulled back under, pain lashing him in all directions.
The corruption was too thick, too heavy—it was impossible to swim in his current state.
Flashing System notifications thrust into his vision—cruelly reminding him of his dwindling Life Force.
Did it even matter?
[Essence: 102/10 – Essence is reaching dangerous levels. Adverse effects: Likely]
He choked as he tried to pull himself through the surface of the water again. He pushed hard and burst through the surface once more, he opened his eyes, a haze of crimson tinting his vision like before.
Good…
The pool wasn't endless. He could see the edge. It was just there, fifty meters or so in the distance.
Elias pulled on his entire being to move as adrenaline-laced every cell in his body. He swam, dragging his now burdened legs, frantically kicking and pulling.
Tears would have run down his face—if it wasn't already covered in the thick crimson liquid.
Why fight it?
[Essence: 149/10]
The pain was becoming too much as his vision began to blur and his muscles began to feel numb and distant.
[Essence: 184/10]
The darkness started to close in around his eyes as he dwindled on the edge of consciousness.
…Sleep.
…Sleep.
…S-l-e-e-p.