A Cold-Blooded POV

The lands below the citizens call it, formally known as Labyrinths and Dungeons. They are pretty much the heart and soul of Atinen, exploration of them has been the task of all civilized races since the creation of the continents.

Surface dwellers have always felt an attraction toward them. However, traversing the unknown will forever be a dangerous venture; only those willing to risk death can gain any reward worth having from its secrets.

In ancient times delvers ventured down into these large block cave-like entrances not knowing how far they'd travel or if their bones would be discovered long after by curious delvers. The ones who survived returned with tales of what loomed in the lands below.

Monsters or not, The prospect was so exciting that people took up the mantle for themselves—risking life and limb against terrible odds in search of precious resources. Monsters would drop cores, a very precious orb depending on the color, these were beneficial to all races. And the dungeons held priceless resources itself.

Empires and kingdoms raced to try and claim as much of the dungeon as they could before any others could compete. It turned into a competition, whoever claimed more of the dungeons and labyrinths became the more powerful kingdom, wars broke out and treaties were broken one after another.

But eventually many turned away. It became clear that even those brave enough to challenge the deepest depths were getting nothing but death and destruction when things went awry.

So most moved on, turning instead to delving closer to the surface where weaker monsters are, but also where inferior rewards could be had. Even now though, some still take risks going deep into the dungeon, trying to find hidden treasures and glory at the cost of certain death.

Only a few powerhouses are truly at the top of the food chain, establishing kingdoms, empires, and bases deep within.

Excerpt from "Golden Ages of Atinen" Chapter 6. By Fifth Circle Middle-Rank Mage, Oliver Sun.

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*Tak*

*Tak*

The footsteps of the large framed man echoed each time he laid his foot on the marble floor. Wilfred was on his way to the armory. In his large, rough, hands he was carrying a magic sword, a magic axe, and a bow- the weapons of the previous recruit members of the Tremblebane guild.

Finally coming to a halt, He stopped in front of the door that read 'armory.' On the door was a piece of paper with a note written in illegible handwriting.

'I'm busy. Don't enter this room unless you want to die.' It read.

Wilfred sighed and sucked his teeth, the stubby old man, Roy, was probably in his shop hammering away at metal and iron. This meant even if he wanted to just knock on the door, he couldn't, Roy wouldn't hear him. He enervatedly reached down into his guild coat pocket, rummaging for the keys to the door.

The guild mansion itself held many secrets hidden within it. Some were easy enough to figure out; some not so much. Even if you knew how to get somewhere or what room you needed, sometimes you would have no idea which key fit where. f𝙧𝒆𝚎𝑤e𝚋𝓷o𝘷𝗲l.c𝐨m

This has caused Wilfred to kick down countless amounts of doors. Melinda had pestered him more times than he could count, stressing about the funding that was coming out of the guild's treasury because of him.

With a 'tick' sound, the door unlocked. The heavy metal slab slid open silently without so much as a click or even a squeak of any kind. Wilfred walked into the Armory's main room.

It was massive, filled with all kinds of different equipment from armor to weaponry; there were more than twenty workspaces for other blacksmiths to operate in, however, they were all empty. 𝘧𝘳𝐞𝚎𝑤ℯ𝘣𝗻𝘰ѵℯl.c𝐨𝚖

The stubborn and short-tempered old man, Roy, wouldn't allow any 'idiots' to touch a hammer, which lead to him being the only blacksmith in the guild.

Wilfred began unloading all three weapons from his back onto one of the long wooden tables. One at a time, he laid them out before taking a seat on top of another table across the way from the entrance. From the corner of his eye, he saw a small shadow cross behind him; Wilfred quickly spun around.

"What the hell are you doing?" Wilfred asked sternly while holding the large piece of wood the bronze-skinned blacksmith swung towards him.

"Tch!". Roy gave up on his attack, taking the large piece of wood and tossing it in the furnace.

"I thought you were an intruder, that's why I swung the log at you." He said blankly. e back in Wilfred's voice. "The Enforcers, that bunch? Hahaha! Good luck. Anyway, it's been a while since we've had an abnormality in the lands below. What was it this time?"

Wilfred blinked. "The healers said Blake mentioned a giant reptile or some kind of lizard. I'm still not sure of the specifics, we will find out once Melinda gets his insignia and we play back the mana recording."

Suddenly, fast and loud footsteps resounded through the hallway outside of the armory. Both Roy and Wilfred quickly looked in the direction of the door. Coming barging through in was a guild messenger, he look exhausted from running.

"S-sir….the-the…-"

Hearing the messenger's weak and stuttering voice a vein bulged in Roy's head. "Spit it out, boy!"

"It's the Enforcers, they're here!"