Starry Resonance Ch. 01

The fight never came though. The closest skeleton ignored him and headed for the light ahead. In fact, every skeleton was heading toward the source of the cry.

What's going on? Yvain thought.

He knew he couldn't use examples of finished dungeons as a point of reference, but the descriptions made by others were never this bizarre. As no skeleton was paying him any mind, he decided to just follow them and see if there really was a baby in a dungeon.

The crying didn't stop even after all the skeletons entered the room. When Yvain reached the door, a line of them were standing at attention on either side. A crib was at the end with a single bearded skeleton standing in front of it.

It really is a baby, Yvain thought with widening eyes as a tiny head struggled inside a bundle of cloth.

He slowly walked in at the ready, piercing every skeleton he passed with his gaze, but no one made a move. The room was like any other where someone would find a newborn. Bright colors, stuffed animals, a chair for the mother to sit in while feeding. The rotting atrocities now in it didn't fit at all.

The crying shifted abruptly, with an adorable laugh taking its place. Yvain kept the skeletons in his peripheral as he gazed back to the crib where the bearded skeleton was holding the baby in its arms, a knife hanging over it.

"Stop!"

Yvain shot out of his position, forming a single deep footprint on the ground and creating a mild shock-wave around him that rattled anything hanging loose. Having no time to draw his sword, he could only extend his right arm and allow the knife to impale his hand.

Pushing up, he managed to stop the edge from reaching its target and without missing a beat back-handed the bearded skeleton's head with his left fist. The head, as if being shot out of a cannon, got ripped out from the rest of the body and smashed the wall, forming cracks all around it. He quickly slid the knife out, some blood falling on the cloth underneath, and with no other option carefully laid the baby between the crevice of his right arm.

As if on cue, every skeleton in the room screeched and began to move, this time their weapons set on Yvain. He didn't wait for them to attack first.

Yvain slid the great sword from his back in a horizontal motion and, with a speed almost invisible to normal eyesight, cut two of the skeletons to his left in half. Wasting no time, he took the brief opening to dodge the attacks coming from the right and moved behind the crib, kicking it toward his most recent assailants.

The cradle burst into wooden pieces, pushing back several of the skeletons in its way. That's when the crying started again.

Yvain had moved too roughly and the baby's left arm was stuck uncomfortably between his chest and its tiny body.

"Tch," he stabbed the sword on the ground and, flinching at the sound of blade meeting concrete, gently repositioned the baby's arm. The small creature immediately calmed down and began cooing after him but there was no time to pay it attention. More skeletons were coming into the room with those already inside trudging after him.

Yvain picked up his great sword and prayed to the stars it wasn't damaged; the last thing he wanted to do was bring back his master's weapon in a worse condition than when it was lent to him. There was no time to examine it though. Instead he ran through the left side of the room, focusing on parrying the attacks coming at him.

The skeletons were thankfully slow on their feet and their strikes predictable, making his escape quick and easy. Unfortunately, when he left the room and turned to leave, the entire hallway was filled to the brim with more of them. In the back, several orbs of bright sapphire that served as eyes were illuminating the body of skeletons that were around twenty feet tall.

Yvain was sure he could take on this small army but, they were too confined, the baby would die in the crossfire. Only one exit remained. Pushing down the shiver of fear that threatened to burst out of his body, he sheathed his great sword and ran for the window.

He jumped and turned in the air, allowing his back smash against the glass, and dark instantly turned to light. Yvain was now standing in the same great hall as before. At least, that's what it looked like at first glance.

What was the entrance to the dungeon was now the broken window with skeletons starting to pour out of it. The paintings on the walls, having more space than before, were neatly set around the room. Everything was also much, much wider; wide enough to comfortably fit the beast growling behind him. It reminded him of the many lizards he would see around his home, only this one was several magnitudes bigger. One of its eyes alone overshadowed Yvain's measly seven feet stature.

What was the next course of action? Was he supposed to fight everyone here? Yvain didn't mind the skeletons now that he had this much space available to him. But if the beast attacked, forget the baby, currently laughing in his arm, even he would not survive.

He was confident in his strength, but their muscle mass was just much too different. Not to mention that his great sword was a toothpick compared to its claws.

The skeletons, ignorant of Yvain's troubles, moved toward him. Hand on hilt, he slowly backed away while deciding on what to do. Then a light lit up behind him.

With an increasing heat enveloping him, Yvain turned his upper body to find the gaping maws of the beast wide open. There was a blinding brilliance coming from its throat that immediately turned into an incandescent pillar of solid white heading straight for him.

Yvain pushed off to the right as quickly as possible, shielding the child in his arms. Yet even while managing to dodge the brunt of the attack, the sheer heat coming off of it made the back of his leather armor burst in flames and his sword start to melt.

Holding back a scream of pain he quickly discarded the weapon but had no time to do the same with his clothes. To make matters worse, in his haste to get out of the way, he tripped.

His body was about to fall flat on the defenseless child when he shifted his center of gravity midair and landed on his back, sliding across the floor for a few meters before a pile of gold cushioned his crash. Coins burst out at every angle before falling down in a downpour of shimmering yellow.

The sliding had put out most of the fire on his armor, but his body was still smoking with some parts of his skin mildly burned.

"What in the stars was that?!?" Yvain couldn't help himself and screamed out at the beast in an accusing tone, more to suppress the pain and the shattering of his understanding of reality than to attempt a scolding.

Was this part of the hated monster race? It couldn't be. Images of his friend's beautiful ex-fiancée came to mind. She was part of what humans considered monsters, but she looked nothing like this. It had wings spanning all of its body, a long lizard-like head, sharp red scales that could probably grind anything to paste, and a tail that looked both powerful yet nimble. Yvian had never seen anything like it, neither had it ever been mentioned in dungeon related books. Yet one word kept coming unabated into his mind, 'monster'.

It was a word that sent the roughest of men and women into shivers. Yvain had never paid it any attention. In fact, those in Draconian's Tavern had adopted the moniker 'Beasts' as it was another description given to the beings that was less crude than monster. Yet, was this how everyone felt when the word was naught but uttered? He couldn't deny the coldness that was flowing from the tip of his feet through his groin and onto his head before pulsating back down.

That attack could obliterate every single member in Draconian's Tavern. That's what it did to the skeletons that had been gathering. All that was left in the aftermath was a river of lava spanning the attacks path, the searing substance creating a molten waterfall where the window had been.

Maybe we made a mistake, Yvain thought.

When he and Nelimir first went to recruitment office in the Cosmos headquarters two years back they were offered strength beyond their mortal means. Such a promise, and their subsequent illustrations, was more than enough to convince two hot-blooded young men to join one of their established guilds. Unfortunately their rules proved too constricting and so they created their own at the sacrifice of a fast track to 'unimaginable power'. But unimaginable power was exactly what Yvain needed right now.

A hiccup caught Yvain's attention. The baby was looking at him with round, innocent eyes. It finally registered that they had a glowing yellow sheen to them with the same razor sharp pupils as the beast that had just attacked them and the eyes at the door. Were they connected somehow? His friend's ex-fiancée had sharp and long ears, so did her family. Even if they were considered monsters they retained a shape close to humans. The child's ears were round, but its eyes different; human, but with a quirky trait. Mild excitement began to build in the pit of his stomach in face of this discovery but he couldn't give it precedence as small earthquakes grew near to his location. The beast was coming.

Standing up, Yvain shamelessly ripped off the rest of his ruined clothing and scanned for anything he could use to fight. With only ornamental weapons available he grabbed the first sword he could reach and ran. As long as he didn't engage and fought defensively, he and the baby could survive while he found a way to get out of their predicament.

The plan was short-lived however, as the beast sped up with his attempted escape and covered an impossible distance in seconds. In one fluid motion that betrayed its size it spun forward in the air to crush Yvain with its tail.

Thankfully it was predictable enough that all Yvain had to do to dodge was speed up but the tail never reached its target and instead disappeared from view. Stunned, he slowed down enough to see out of the corner of his eye that the tail was now coming from the front. With a fraction of a second available, Yvain forced his body down with his back facing the floor and, muscles screaming in pain at the shift in force from an awkward position, slid forward. The tail passed over him and, using the opportunity, he attacked it with his new sword. The weapon simply bent under the pressure. It was no different than striking the tail with air.

Yvain's surroundings suddenly acquired the same reddish hue as when the beast shot its breath. In the air, a hole filled with dozens of sharp teeth and a mini ball of fire in the middle pointed at him.

This was it. Still mid-slide, he had no time or way to move.

A fireball burst out of the beast's mouth and crashed close enough to send him flying with the force of the impact, but not close enough to hurt. The damage came when he was once more forced to use his back as a shield for the child in his arms and crashed against a pillar, forming a tiny crater.

Blood shot out of Yvain's mouth, a sharp pain shooting through his ribs, but he paid no attention to his injuries. He pushed himself off the pillar and staggered to all fours, making sure not to drop the tiny being in his arm. The renewed shaking of the ground told him that the beast was coming again but he ignored it.

The baby was thankfully uninjured but desperation was flowing up to Yvain's mind regardless. He was so close to leaving Empryon, so close to experiencing a life outside the damnable walls that kept him and his kin locked up in mock peace. There was so much he wanted to do. At least, that's what he told himself. What was outside those walls he didn't know, but it had to be more than the grating slog he had crawled through up until now.

He set the infant down next to the pillar they had just crashed on. The debris that surrounded it felt too harsh and inappropriate a location for something so innocent but Yvain had no choice if he wanted to fight freely.

His unscathed hand grabbed on to one of the baby's pudding like cheeks as it cooed and tried to hold on to his fingers. He felt disgusted with himself, adding to the already growing frustration. He knew they would both die and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was a harsher experience for him than the impending death.

All his life he had been at the top. He lived in a peaceful kingdom with a loving family, trained under a powerful master, and was popular despite facing a lot of backlash over his peculiar thoughts. He even almost became the right-hand man to the future king, who also happened to be his best friend.

A laugh escaped Yvain when he realized that even after being banished he didn't face that much adversity in his path forward. Now he was going to let an innocent child die and get himself killed in the process at the very first obstacle. He somehow denied and welcomed the fact at the same time, as he had never felt as alive as he did now. And if it was inevitable, then he would at least give it his all before they both perished.

Yvain released the child's cheek and faced the beast. Its cry immediately rang out behind him but he ignored it as a viscous blue radiance slowly poured out of his body with millions of minuscule lights shinning inside and outside of it. They spun around as if being held in place by a celestial object, unable to shoot out and destroy everything in their path.

The massive beast stopped in its tracks when the light appeared; their gazes clashed. Its eyes squinted, and Yvain could swear it grinned at him. His own facial muscles twitched. He didn't know if he was smiling or frowning. Part of him welcomed this moment with open arms. It was exactly the type of experience he had been aching for.

As if in sync, the beast stood on its hind legs just as Yvain lifted his left arm, fingers pointing straight up in a chopping position. The bright dots around him spun faster and faster, sucking in all the light in the great hall and plunging the surroundings into darkness. The bright dots now swimming in the dark looked like those that could be found in the night ether.

The absence of light didn't last though.

The beast gave a deafening roar up to the heavens, and with its wings and forelegs stretched out, as if holding all of creation, formed a massive ball of fire in the space above. But calling massive would be a disservice. It grew to such a size that the beast itself was a pebble in front of it. Was there no ceiling? Before Yvain could find the answer to the mundane question that popped into his mind his eyeballs boiled and burst.

Combining his scream of agony with his own roar at the beast, Yvain concentrated all of his power, pain, and anger on his stretched arm and created a simple pillar of light taller than the beast he was facing, but not tall enough to reach the celestial sphere. It was the only move he had managed to learn that was outside of mortal arts. He hadn't even mastered it yet. A part of him was glad he couldn't see anymore, as he knew how insignificant it must look in front of his adversary.

Regardless, he poured everything into the skill and swept his arm down with a final roar, intent on executing the beast that would end him.

"Nightfall!" Everything went black.

----------

Yvain woke up and found himself back in the baby's room. In muddled panic, he gingerly touched his eyes to confirm they were actually there.

So it really was an illusion, he though. Yet when he stood, a rush of air and a weightless back pointed at his nakedness and absent weapon. Despite this, the burns he received from the fire, the fractures in his ribs, strained muscles, and eyes were all healed. Even the blood he had spat out and the sweat that had accumulated during the fight were all gone.

His used up starlight had also returned. The only wound that remained was the hole in his right hand and his slightly uncomfortable elbow. It was as if time had been turned back to before he jumped out that window.

Yvain wondered if the child, like him, had survived the beast's attack. No matter how much he searched though, no one besides him was in the small nursery. The crib was empty and he didn't hear any crying or giggling. Neither were the skeletons there.

With no other options left, he left the room with a sense of loss behind him.

The hallway had been replaced by a narrow cave lighted by torches. With only one path leading out of the room, Yvain walked in pensive silence while trying not to bump his head on the low ceiling. At this point nothing that could happen inside this dungeon could surprise him anymore. It would be best to just take things as they came and quickly adapt.

With nothing to impede Yvain's progress, in just a few minutes he reached an opening that gave way to another room made of finely cut stones. This one only had two doors, big double doors in the middle and a smaller one to the right. Before he could look at any more details though, his understanding of reality faced its biggest challenge yet.

"Welcome, Yvain. You've done well to make it this far." A smirking Selt was relaxing on the ground throwing the leather pouch up and down.

Stunned, Yvain could do nothing but stare at the kid.

Selt pushed himself off the ground and reached into the leather bag, taking out a wooden wand. He menacingly pointed it at Yvain, imitating how Roesia usually attacks, and spoke with smug mockery, "Little did you know, young wanderer, that I was the ruler of this castle all along." A brilliant red light shot out of the wand toward Yvain.

He didn't make an attempt to dodge. Dumbfounded, he stared at Selt while the ball of red light harmlessly bounced off his chest.

Selt laughed uncontrollably, tears forming quickly.

"That's the look! Oh man, I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life."

"If you don't tell me why you are here in the next five seconds, whatever god is protecting your miserable life won't be able to stop me from smashing your head into the ground," Yvain said with barely contained anger.

Selt raised his hands in surrender. "Chill friend, just having a bit of fun. Look." He pointed to Yvain's right, more specifically, to the smaller door in the room they were standing in.

"There's no way," Yvain said.

"Why don't you see for yourself," Selt said, trying to hold back his laughter.

Yvain had to force himself to move forward. The weight of the impending truth had him walking a tight rope on the precipice of helplessness. And as he feared, behind the door stood the great hall he had left Selt in.

"Don't blame me now, I told you to go left," Selt couldn't contain himself any longer and again burst out into a loud snorting laughter.

Not knowing whether to express anger, disappointment, or embarrassment, Yvain decided to move things along, but not before expelling what he felt was so far the biggest sigh of his life.

"I get it, I'm sorry. So what have you been doing all this time?"

"Waiting for you, what else?" Selt said innocently.

Yvain took a deep breath and spoke, "Just wait? You didn't think to check this room?" He surveyed the room, but there wasn't really much to find. Only the set of double doors and the one he was standing in decorated the area.

The double doors were smaller than the ones at the entrance to the dungeon, made out of wood, and of a different shape. No design could be seen on them.

"As you can see, there are only those doors here," Selt said with an uninterested tone. He had put the wand back inside the leather pouch and was once again playing with it.

"Alright, well, the doors at the entrance are still closed, so it seems we aren't done with the trial yet." Yvain jogged to the great hall and picked up the biggest ornamental sword he could find. Before going back, he looked at one of the golden pillars in the room. It was so similar to where he left the child that a part of him wondered if he'd just find it lying where he left it.