They walked.

  They walked and walked and walked.

  Every minute they walked they kept a watchful eye out for roving skeletons. Avoiding them by taking a wide berth whenever possible. Cornering and quickly dispatching them when they couldn’t.

  Those skeletons were both a hazard and their only guide as the four of them trudged through the woods. They knew they were getting closer and closer as the roving bands of skeletons increased in density. From lone stragglers to groups of five or more as they pushed their way deeper in.

  “One thing I’m noticing is that, while they do seem to be moving in the general direction of town, not all of them are going that way.” Paul observed as they were letting a large group of the clattering skeletons move by.

  “Why do you think that’s the case?” Francis asked in a whisper, his eyes peering around the tree trunk he was hiding behind.

  “Probably drawn to life signs or something.” Paul mused as he rested. “I bet the towns the biggest concentration around, but it’s not the only thing.”

  “Yeah, there’s us.” Tim had to interject.

  “Sure we’re here, but were moving all the time.” Paul waved his hands a bit. “Like I bet some of these skeletons are heading towards like beehives or caves or something like that. Concentrations.”

  “Well good luck to them with the hibernating bears.” Mark was sat on a fallen log, staying low behind a bush to keep out of sight.

  “Wait a minute.” Francis reached back behind him to quiet the others. “I think I see something.”

  What Francis saw was a sudden flash of light from far away through the trees. He was certain it wasn’t a trick of the light as the sun had started to shift in the sky and left a somewhat ruddy glow to everything.

  That flash of light was pure white. It’s piercing colour a stark contrast to the darkening shadows. It was paired with a sound. A sound not unlike a chime from a bell.

  Paul’s ears perked up and swivelled in the direction that sound came from. “Oh, yeah I hear it now too.”

  “Think that’s what we’re here to find?” Francis looked back over his shoulder.

  “I’m not sure, but it’s got to be worth checking out.”

  -------------

  They moved through the woods towards the occasional flash of light and the sound of chimes. The lights and sounds stood out quite a bit as they moved closer to the source. Becoming brighter and louder as the closed in.

  Eventually, the group of four found themselves crouched behind a bush. A bush not unlike one they had found themselves behind a couple of seasons ago when they were hunting goblins. They peered out from between the leaves to see a scene.

  A scene filled with bones, mud, flashes of light, and loud noises of crystalline chimes. There they could see a mountain of bones. A pile of twisted calcium with skeletal pieces stuck into and through each other as they were stacked in upon each other. This tableau of white towered over the clearing of churned up mud and broken trees and branches. But there, at the peak of the shambling spikey tower, clasped in hundreds of skeletal hands, was the same green crystal of the dungeon.

  This crystal took the opportunity to vibrate inside of it’s bone prison. A song of noise ringing out and collapsing into a bright flash of white near it’s base. From that flash and sound spawned a skeleton, which immediately set off forward.

  “Remember that question we had this morning about ‘did we cause this?’” Francis whispered at the edge of everyone’s hearing. His finger reached up to point at the dungeon’s crystal core. “I see a crack down the centre. We did that.”

  “Yeah yeah.” Mark leaned back to rest on his haunches. “So what’s the plan then? Go in there and hit it more? Until it breaks or something?”

  Paul looked back at the other three. “OK, resource check.”

  The three of them stared at Paul blankly.

  “OK, fine I’ll go first.” Paul shook his head. “I got three first level spells and three second level spells remaining. I’m not hurt either so that’s good.” He looked to Tim.

  Taking the hint, Tim thought for a moment. “I got two of the first level, and one of the second level. I’m also not hurt.”

  Mark and Francis patted their pockets, but Francis spoke up first. “I’m not feeling hurt anymore, just got the knife though.”

  “Yeah, cut stopped bleeding, little sore, but otherwise fine.” Mark listed off. “Got the axe, and not much else.”

  “Right right right, this is doable.” Paul slowly started crawling away. “Follow me for a bit, we need some space.”

  Silent as they could be, they moved away from the muddy clearing. When they had put some distance behind them, Paul found a spot to sit and beckoned everyone close.

  “OK, here’s the plan.” He drew on the ground to illustrate his points. “We got the bone pile, a clearing, and the crystal is making new skeletons. So what I’m going to do is armour you and you up.” He pointed towards Francis and Tim. “Mark, you and Francis are going to keep anything it summons down. Tim you’ll keep them safe, alive, and healthy.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll cast a spell over the pile that’ll start whittling away at it. When the crystal falls, if it falls, beat it up.”

  Mark nodded along. “Sounds simple enough.”

  “Simple tends to work best.” Paul pointed towards the drawing. “We’ll approach from this side, keep some trees between us if possible, and it should work out. If it doesn’t, I’ll scream or something.”

  “Could be worse.” Francis jumped up and down in place for a bit. “Get to castin’ the voodoo. It’s getting dark and cold out here.”

  “Should have taken the suit with the fur.” Paul grinned. Grabbing the piece of leather out of his satchel and extending his hands out to touch Francis and Tim. “I adorn thee in the mighty [Mage Armour]! And you I clothe in the vestments of [Mage Armour]!”

  Glowing blue plates formed and hovered in place around Francis and Tim’s bodies. The shapes coalesced into rigid forms that attached themselves fractions of an inch above their clothes.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Pretty sweet Paul.” Francis admired the magic.

  “Yeah yeah.” Francis gritted his teeth as the pain of casting these two spells in quick succession caused his hands to twitch.

  “What’s the spell you’re going to cast in the fight?” Mark stood up and stretched a little bit.

  “You’ll know it when you see it.” Paul rolled his neck and head. “Just... don’t get too close to it.”

  -------------

  Time froze.

  “I cast a [Cloud of Daggers] over that pile of bones!” Paul waved his hands and brandished his little piece of glass. The blue rune rings forming around that glass before shooting forward to land near the base of the bone pile. From there the circle expanded until it was forming a cube five feet on a side. Inside that cube more and more blue phantasmal daggers started flying about digging at and chipping the bones inside the space.

  “Jesus Christ Paul.” Francis stared at the magic blender as it started to go to work. “What made you take that one?”

  Tim stared as well. Their stone hands gripped their staff tightly.

  Mark was the most stoic of them all. “Doesn’t matter, just keep an eye out and let it work.”

  Paul watched as a second set of six seconds went by. His mind focused on keeping the spell continuing. Each dagger worked like a little saw, turning the bones inside into a fine powder.

  The pile of bones shuddered. The green crystal at its peak moving in a jagged manner as the structure below continued to undulate. A piercingly loud shriek resounded through the clearing. A flash of white light erupted from a pin prick in the space near its base. A new skeleton now existed.

  Francis Eyed the newly formed skeleton. “Rush it?”

  Tim glanced between Francis and Mark, waiting for their go.

  “Rush it.” Mark jogged forward. Francis not far behind.

  -------------

  “I cast a [Cloud of Daggers] over that side of the pile of bones!” Paul panted out for the third time.

  The ‘fight’ itself had been going on for two minutes of ‘real time’ at this point, but it had been an hour of subjective time for everyone else involved. Each ‘round’ that went by came with another loud chime from the crystal and another skeleton summoned in a flash of white light.

  Once it had been summoned, Francis and Mark had a moment while the thing was essentially stunned in place. They would rush over and smash it to pieces with a heavy axe swing and swift knife strikes.

  “How much longer do you think this is going to take?” Francis complained, hands on knees.

  Tim, who had been able to keep a wider view of things, appraised the pile of bones. “Shouldn’t be too much more, there’s quite a large hole carved out now.

  Mark inspected his axe edge, it was chipped. “Maybe we could push it over?”

  Paul rubbed at his temples. “We might have to do that soon, that was my last level two spell.”

  The crystal chimed and swayed, another skeleton appeared.

  Francis, Mark, and Tim descended upon it and obliterated the newly formed thing before it even had the chance to move.

  “Just a little bit more I think.” Paul pinched the bridge of his nose.

  -------------

  The final [Cloud of Daggers] petered out.

  The pile of bones was a shadow of its former self. Nearly half of the thing had been ground to dust under the spell’s repeated casting. The crystal at the top teetered from side to side, threatening to fall but not doing so.

  “Francis, I think this is your moment to shine.” Paul groaned out while experiencing a pounding headache. “Climb up there and push the thing over?”

  “Anything to get us out of this.” Francis rubbed his face and sheathed his knife that had gotten dull from near constant use.

  Tim yawned.

  Mark kicked a fallen skull away. They had gotten the pattern of skeleton summoning down pat. He moved in a slow circle around and casually swung his axe through another mote of light as it formed into another bony body.

  Paul watched Francis scale the bones. The halfling quickly reached the top where the crystal still stood, clutched in the bone hands of many skeletons below.

  “Just gonna... pry...” Francis jabbed his knife into the clenching fingers and removed them one at a time like barnacles from a boat’s hull.

  With a number of the finger bones removed, Francis was able to finally dislodge the green crystal. He pushed and nudged with all of his might and eventually the dungeon core slipped from it’s grasp to land on the ground with a resounding thud.

  Time unfroze.

  “Oh thank god!” Paul raised his hands up to the sky. “That took forever!”

  The bone tower shuddered one more time and then started to collapse. Francis practically slid down the crumbling shambling mass of bone where he ended up in a heap at the bottom.

  Dusting himself off, Francis joined the others as they huddled around the fallen green crystal.

  “So we smash it, right?” Mark hefted his axe.

  “Just a minute, I got one spell left.” Paul shook out his arms, grabbed the small pearl from his satchel, took a knee, and placed a palm on the crystal. “Just let me use [Identify] on this to see if it says anything interesting. Who knows when we’ll get another opportunity to do this.”

  Paul cast the spell and the blue box appeared in front his eyes.

  Paul blinked as the box hovered there for him to read. “OK yeah, I have a feeling that we need to deal with this thing, like now.”