The world changed the instant they stepped through.
Adams could feel it in his bones as he walked over the floor, his skin tingling as the damp air pressed against it. The moment was brief; a heartbeat, then the forest around him grew impossibly thick, swallowing the sounds of Lagos whole. No distant guns, no cars, not even the wind whistling past broken windows.
Then birds started singing.
Adams opened his eyes.
They stood in a forest. Real trees stretched impossibly overhead and the air smelled of damp moss and fallen leaves. Sunlight filtered down through the leaves in golden rays that painted everything in an almost ethereal glow.
Riven turned in a slow circle, taking in the trees, and then raised an eyebrow. "Well now, this isn’t quite what I was expecting."
Elena was already scanning the horizon, her hand resting lightly on her medical bag. "What did you expect?"
"Something a little more in the theme of the dungeon," He gestured vaguely. "Tomes, torches, maybe a couple of ominous corridors."
Adams cast a glance over his shoulder at the great gate they’d just passed through. The air shimmered and wavered like heat above tar and through the haze he could see the distant warehouse. Lagos. The real world. Tiny and far away.
"So we can go back," he said.
Riven nodded. "Probably. Unless said gate decides to shut our backs."
"That was never discussed."
"I didn’t think it was a good idea to dwell on it."
"Riven."
"It was a joke." He paused a moment, then sighed. "Mainly."
Adams turned away from the gate. "Shall we."
They walked for twenty miles before they came upon the first signs of life.
Not monsters. Plants. Strange, wonderful plants that sent their hearts beating faster in their chests. Trees with luminous bark, flowers that seemed to pulse in time with their breathing, vines that appeared to move when they weren’t looking directly at them.
Riven crouched beside one of the flowers, his expression one of intense fascination as he turned it over in his hands, all the while reminding himself that the man was a blacksmith, not a botanist. "This is incredible."
Elena kept her distance. "Do you think it’ll kill us?"
"I don’t know."
"That’s a frightening answer."
"I’m a blacksmith, not a botanist." Riven stood, brushing dirt from his knees. "But the material is different. I can feel it."
Adams looked the forest ahead. "Feel what?"
"The energy is stronger. This is a breeding ground." He looked at Elena. "The enemies will be more powerful. Meaning the rewards will be bigger."
Adams didn’t respond. He had already noticed the tracks on the forest floor. Large prints, newly made, and a strange feeling prickled at his spine. Something was watching them. Not from the trees, but from the shadows cast by the buildings beyond the trees.
The first attack came from the trees.
The beast dropped from the branches ten feet in front of them, limbs flowing in a tight arc as it landed and charged. Four legs, sinewy and muscle bound, it’s mouth a gaping maw of rows of teeth that glinted in the dim light.
Adams moved.
Gravemarsh slid free of it’s sheath as he stepped forward, the blade catching the light as he stepped into the beast’s path. It’s speed was greater than any monster they’d faced outside but Adams had been fighting for a month and he knew how to read an opponent’s moves. He shifted his weight and avoided the beast’s lunge and drove the blade into it’s side in a wide arc.
The creature let out a sound that was close to a scream and lay still.
Three more creatures dropped from the trees and Riven stepped up to meet them, his own blade in hand.
A shorter weapon, forged by his own hands, the edge of which had a faint blue light to it. "Left," he said simply, meeting Adams’ gaze. The blacksmith moved to the right, watching as his companion squared off against the beasts. He didn’t need to see the battle to know what was happening, it was all in the subtle shifts of Riven’s stance, the way the man kept his weight balanced, the ever present tension in his muscles.
Adams caught the second creature across the chest and drove his elbow into the creature’s skull and Riven took the third creature by the throat and cut it’s spine open.
The fourth creature turned to run but Adams’ throw knife, one crafted from an elite core by Riven, found it’s skull and the beast dropped to the ground.
Silence.
Elena sighed. "That was easy."
Adams retrieved his knife. "Too easy, I’m afraid."
Riven examined the creatures bodies, retrieving a core from one of the beast. It was larger than any they’d found on the surface, pulsing with a deep purple light. "They aren’t the same species as the ones outside. Different anatomy. Different energy signature." He held it up. "This would take us weeks to find outside."
Adams looked at the core and then the trees beyond. "How much more?"
"A lot."
They walked deeper into the forest.
The trees grew impossibly tall and the underbrush grew dense and Riven grew more and more delighted with every new monster they encountered. He sat down against a tree during one of their mealtimes, turning a core over in his hands. "This is precisely what I thought it would be."
Elena handed Adams a bottle of water. "Structured how?"
"Like a progression. The deeper we get the stronger the enemies get. As their strength increases so does the reward." He turned the core over in his hands. "This would take us weeks to find outside."
Adams drank slowly. "You’ve been thinking about this for a while."
"Ever since the first gate appeared." Riven leaned back against the tree. "I wanted to try it but I never expected to be one of the first to come through."
Elena sat beside Adams. "First what?"First people to deliberately clear a Gate." Riven looked at them. "Think about it. No one really knows what is in here and no one has mapped these places or even established proper protocol for first time users. There’s no guidebook so we have to make our own."
Adams put his bottle down. "Which means we can’t rely on other people’s experience."
"Exactly." Riven nodded. "We have to set our own."
Elena was silent for a moment. "That’s either brave or stupid."
"Probably both." He almost smiled.
They continued onward and the monsters grew stronger and the battles grew longer and Adams took more hits, wounds that would have killed him a month ago and Riven’s blades tore through enemies with thick plates of armor. They learned as they fought, the world revealed itself to them and Adams realized that the monsters weren’t coming at them any longer just simply to attack.
They fought off a pack of beasts with a willful determination that sent his pulse quickening and he realized why. They were herding them. Leading them somewhere.
Adams was the first to say it. "They’re not just attacking us. They’re herding us."
Riven frowned. "Toward what?"
"I don’t know."
Elena looked toward the forest ahead. "Maybe we should find out."
The great stone doors appeared as they walked forward but the first thing they noticed were the doors. One moment they stood in the forest and the next they looked up to see the great stone building carved into the hill. Doors of stone stood at the far end of the clearing and deep within the building, beyond the doors, something massive and dark waited.
Riven stopped. "This is it."
Adams looked at him. "You’re sure?"
"Not even a little." Riven frowned at the doors. "But it’s different from the rest of them so it must be important."
Elena looked toward the great building. "There’s something behind them. I can feel it."
Adams did as well. Something large. Something waiting. He drew Gravemarsh and looked to Riven and Elena.
"Ready?" He asked.
Riven nodded and Elena raised her hands, mana crackling at her fingertips.
They pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
The chamber was vast, the ceiling lost in darkness overhead. Pillars of stone stretched up impossibly far but were etched with markings that glowed with an inner light. The floor was of smooth stone and reflected the light. Deep within the chamber something large moved.
It rose slowly, revealing the beast for what it was. Thick plates of black stone covered it’s body, it’s eyes burned with blue fire and stood nearly three times their height, it’s arms ending in great claws that could rip through armor.
The Gate Boss.
Adams felt something strange in his chest, not quite fear.
The creature looked at them and studied them, taking in each of them’s faces. It’s mind brushed against theirs, searching, deciding.
Then the doors slammed shut behind them.
They didn’t need to look back to know they were sealed.
Elena’s voice was quiet. "Any ideas?"
Riven swallowed. "One or two."
Adams raised Gravemarsh, the weapon steady in his grip. "Let’s find out if they work."