David ran a hand over the weathered stone of one of the crystal-caped towers. It felt rough but was in better condition than he'd expected. It was either younger than he thought or it was more resistant to the ravages of the elements than normal.

  He and Karline were investigating the base of one of those towers, which were rather massive things; the distance they'd observed them from had warped their sense of scale. Thirty meters to a side, tapering off as it rose, he judged the top to be maybe half the dimension, which meant the crystal was easily 15 meters across and 20 meters high.

  They couldn't discern any markings or symbols. The tower offered no clues to what it was or did. There weren't any of the plants they were looking after growing within its shadow either.

  He put his glove back on and stepped away. “Let's keep going. I don't think we'll find much here.”

  “Why is that?” Karline asked.

  He looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. “These things aren't exactly conspicuous. Adventures will have scoured this area clean.”

  She tsked. “Yeah, you're right...”

  “Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find a shiny thing for you to bring back. Let's go.” He said, motioning forward with his head.

  They delved deeper into the forest, passing by several other towers. The underbrush lightened up as they went, the trees becoming taller and wider, blocking out more of the sun and leaving less for other plants.

  The incessant squawks and screams of the clouds of birds above drowned out the regular wildlife sounds. Unable to hear the rustling of bushes or the padding of paws, they kept their heads on swivels.

  The area, however, seemed free of big predators and any sort of large animals, with only rodents and insects present.

  David grunted. “It's strange.”

  “What's strange?”

  “No big predators, but lots of small prey that birds usually love to eat.”

  Karline looked around. “...huh.”

  “Right?”

  “Why do you think that is?” She asked, uncertain.

  He shrugged. “No idea. It's just strange.” He furrowed his brow. “Keep an eye out, you see anything out of the ordinary, let me know.”

  She nodded as they kept walking.

  Over a mound, around a boulder, passing by another tower, looking to the shades for any signs of plants, a bell passed.

  A deep, muffled, and distant tremor filtered through their bones.

  They stopped, scanning around.

  The birds had gone silent.

  They waited, alert.

  The birds' cacophony returned.

  They frowned, looking at each other, before resuming their advance.

  This time, they noticed the birds going silent just before another tremor propagated through the ground, up their feet, and into their legs.

  As if a giant boulder had rolled down the Brokenjaw mountains and through the woods.

  Again, nothing followed. The birds didn't appear overly concerned aside from momentarily shutting up.

  They kept going, the tremors returning at irregular intervals, some more intense than others, but all subdued and diluted.

  It seemed it'd be the strangest thing that would happen all day, until David spotted something. Something that shouldn't be happening, since he wasn't willing for it to happen.

  On the small patch of skin he could see between his sleeve and his glove, his body runes were faintly glowing.

  He glanced at his other wrist. The glow was there as well. He pulled up his collar as high as it would go, with no way to know if the runes along his neck were acting up without his input.

  “Karline?”

  “Yeah?” She replied, looking at him.

  “Take the lead. I need to check something.” He said.

  She raised an eyebrow, but moved ahead as instructed.

  Waiting a few minutes to make sure she wasn't going to look back, he took off one of his gloves. His runes are alight with their usual blue glow, but something was strange...

  He waved his hand left and right in wide arcs. It was almost imperceptible, but... It looked like the glow intensified the more to the left his hand was.

  He put his glove back on and stared to the left. There didn't seem to be anything that way. And yet...

  He turned his eyes to Karline ahead of him. How much could he trust her? Would she ask questions?

  Time to misdirect.

  “Karline, let's go left. I think I saw something.” He lied.

  “Hmm? Ok.” She angled left.

  They walked maybe a hundred meters, David's runes gaining in intensity as they progressed. He had turned into a kind of compass. Go where the glow is strongest. Fun.

  Karline eventually glanced back at David, her eyes going wide as she saw his face.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “David! You're... glowing blue!” She exclaimed.

  “What?” He looked at his body and arms, acting surprised when he saw the blue glow poking out from his wrist.

  “I guess I am.”

  “What's going on!? Are you feeling alright?” She asked with urgency.

  “I feel fine. I think these are the curse-repelling imbuements I got in town before leaving. They must be reacting to something that's trying to curse me, but you... oh.” He acted concerned.

  “I what?”

  “You're not glowing... did you not get anti-curse imbuements?”

  “What?! No! You didn't tell me to! I'm going to get cursed!?” She bombarded, a tinge of panic in her voice.

  “Calm down. It's probably fine.” He said, doing calming gestures with his hands.

  “Only really strong curses take effect right away. Something that strong would have just broken through these.” He said, showing his wrist for effect. “If we finish up here and get back to town quick enough, we can get you cleansed before the curses start acting up. It'll be fine.”

  Panic and understanding clashed on Karline's face. She closed her eyes and forced a deep breath. Opening her eyelids, she looked at him. “Ok, fine. But if I start turning green, you have to give me the saint's mercy.”

  She was asking him to kill her quickly should the worst happen. Which wasn't going to happen since this wasn't a curse, but...

  “You're most concerned about turning green?” He asked, tilting his head.

  “...any colour. If I start turning any colour.”

  “What about if your ears turn into tongues?”

  “What? That's gross!” She grimaced before palpating her ears.

  “Curses are often gross.”

  “Whatever! If whatever starts happening to me!” She threw her hands up and stomped off.

  He fought to contain his grin.

  They kept walking, David slightly correcting their heading as his glow intensified or waned.

  Until it began weakening entirely.

  “Wait.” He called, frowning, turning around, and taking a few steps back.

  The glow gained in strength.

  He backtracked some more until it was about as bright as he could make out.

  Looking up from his hand, he scanned the area. There was... nothing.

  He turned his head toward Karline, who was walking up to him. “This is where the emanation is strongest. Do you see anything?”

  She raised an eyebrow and observed her surroundings, nothing catching her attention.

  “Trees, bushes, rocks.” She intoned.

  “hmm.”

  He lowered himself, bringing his hand closer to the ground. It glowed brighter.

  “Hrrrm.” He grunted, standing back up.

  He gave a good stomp on the ground.

  And then he was falling.

  A blue comet crashed down on a bed of mushrooms, crushing them and blowing out a cloud of spores, chunks of a rusted metal grate falling in plonks and cracks around it.

  Cough

  He groaned, unflattening himself from the floor, flipping onto his back, and looking straight up.

  Several dozen meters by the look of it. Good thing I boosted up. That fall would have killed me.

  “David!” A small shout echoed down the shaft he'd fallen through. “Are you ok?! David!”

  “I'm mostly ok! Give me a minute!” He shouted back, lying flat for a few more moments. The impact hadn't lessened; he just resisted better. Still hurt as if he'd fallen down several dozen meters. Which he had.

  At least the mushrooms had cushioned his landing somewhat.

  Cough Cough

  He stood up, wincing as his muscles and bones protested.

  Taking his plaque out and activating its light function, he observed his surroundings. He was in some sort of cavern, but... it wasn't natural. In fact, apart from the lichen, moss and random patch of mushrooms and goop-looking substance, it looked like a corridor, maybe three meters wide and tall, with a slight curve in both directions. He could see some rubbish here and there, mould and whatnot growing on it.

  Not really any way up, however. He sighed.

  He craned his neck upward at the shaft. Its sides looked smooth, no handhold to speak of.

  “I'm not seeing any way up! Stay put, I'll look around a bit!” He shouted at Karline.

  “I have a rope, I can tie it off!” She shouted back.

  “Shaft is at least 40 meters deep, I don't think your rope will reach! Just stay put!”

  He glanced at his hands, still emanating their blue glow. Whatever was going on down here, it was reacting with his inscriptions and imbuements. Concentrated ambient mana? Something else?

  A deep rumbling ran down the corridor.

  He froze, killed his light.

  Cough

  He cursed internally, stopped breathing, and listened.

  Nothing.

  He looked right. He looked left.

  Niala was right-handed. He went left.

  With the rumbling coming back at irregular intervals, David skulked forward, advancing by the light of his plaque. He had crossed more rubbish and junked contraptions of rusted metal that turned to dust when touched.

  The lichens and mushrooms were everywhere, growing over the hewed blue-grey stone the corridor was made of. The curve never disappeared, making him wonder if he was going around in a giant circle.

  Cough

  He took a swig of water. The dust the mushrooms had released still burned in his throat. The relative humidity and stale air didn't help.

  He was sweating; with no draft in the corridor, the atmosphere was constricting and heavy.

  He squinted.

  He hid his plaque behind his hand, back out, hidden. He turned it off.

  There was some light coming up from up ahead. Then a flash of light, soon followed by the rumbling.

  Lightning and Thunder. Underground.

  He moved forward.

  There was a T-junction ahead, and the light was coming from the branching path. He sneaked up to the corner and peered around. The side path went for a few meters, ending on a pair of iron doors barely hanging onto their hinges. Through the gap between them, he could see a larger, illuminated area, the far wall of which was adorned with a window reaching up to the ceiling, with daylight shining through.

  He moved forward, twisting himself around the half-hanging doors, careful not to jolt them lest they unhinge and clatter to the floor. He was in some sort of observation area. The windowed walkway curving on both sides, apparently following the contour of the inner corridor he'd been travelling in.

  As he walked up to the edge and finally gazed out, his jaw dropped.

  He was looking at... nature. A giant domed cavern stretched out almost farther than he could see, covered with varied juxtaposed habitats: Savannah, green forest, desert, plains, and then an ice shelf, a volcanic wasteland, a noxious swamp, and more, arrayed around the central observation ring he was in.

  Rivers snaked across the lands, various lakes dotted the landscape. The cavern's walls were sculpted like the feet of mountains, some even appeared to hold snow at their peaks, and the ceiling shone blue as if it were the sky.

  Strewn about, plunging from the ceiling, the base of the stone pillars they'd seen above ground, widening down, so far down. He couldn't judge the distance. The trees were almost indistinct from one another this far up.

  He noticed movement down below. There were things alive down there. A herd of beasts grazing in the plains, various shapes flying, small blurs populating the landscapes, and...

  CRACK-BOOM

  Stormy clouds in the distance, releasing spears of light and what looked like rain.

  What was this place?!