Pieces of Sonder

The width of the corridor allowed for Freya and K13 to walk side-by-side comfortably. The former provided most of the light for the party, while the latter fiddled with his axes.

The long corridor reminded Freya of the last dungeon with orcs they did, so she carefully watched for traps. Unfortunately, the enchanted light stone could only emit so much. She could only see about a meter ahead, no matter how much qi she put into the stone.

“I hope orcs can’t see in the dark,” Infamous Biscuit said, looking back the way they came.

“I doubt they can,” Heilong said. “Otherwise, why would they bother to have enchanted lights at all? Even here it looks like there’s supposed to be enchanted lights.”

She held up her light stone and pointed at a small curved ledge on the wall. 

“So maybe they think we can’t see in the dark,” Freya surmised.

Heilong nodded, “Which is troubling for two reasons. One, they must know we’re here. And two, they’re thinking. Sure the regular orcs were able to set traps and whatnot, but this seems more advanced.”

The dark corridor never seemed to end. Plain marble floor square after plain marble floor square continued onward into the darkness.

Then in the far distance, a spec of light. 

Freya could almost feel Heilong treading on her heels, but she kept the same pace, making sure to check for traps. Finally, as they approached the end of the corridor, she didn’t need her enchanted light stone anymore. 

The corridor almost appeared to open into the outside world. Far above their heads, the white and blue-tinged ceiling looked like the sky. At the ceiling’s center, a bright light shone like the sun.

“Wow, these look like Roman ruins!” Heilong said.

Partially collapsed and mostly intact stone buildings dotted the vast space. Most of the structures were about the size of two- or three-story houses, but their gigantic doors and windows suggested they were only a single floor. Giant columns, similar to the ones they walked through to enter the corridor, were in front of most of the building’s entryways.

A cobblestone road stretched out through the buildings. Scraggly plant-life grew around the edifices, sometimes even in cracks in the buildings, but the road was clear. 

Freya climbed up a partially fallen column onto the top of a building to better look at their surroundings. The road stretched clear to the other side of the space. Buildings covered almost the entire area, but a few spaces contained greenery, either by design or completely collapsed buildings.

“There’s a whole city here,” Freya said, a little breathless. “How did it get trapped in a dungeon?”

Heilong joined her on the top of the building and let out a whistle. “Wow, it really does look like the ruins of a giant city. I wonder who made it? Or is this something the dungeon generated?”

Freya stared up at the ceiling. They had to be far underground. Maybe this is just one of those weird things found in dungeons. Otherwise, I don’t know why anyone would build a city down here. Unless…

“Do you think orcs could have built this?”

“Hm, maybe ancient ones. This place looks like it’s been abandoned for a while.”

They climbed down and regrouped with the others.

“Let’s continue down the road I guess,” Infamous Biscuit suggested. Since the main road led to the other side of the space, it seemed like the clear path forward. 

They walked only a few meters down the road before Freya stopped them, “Wait, this section of road looks different.”

Wary of a possible trap, she picked up a fragment of stone from the side of the road and threw it at the section in question.

Nothing happened.

Heilong and Infamous Biscuit cautiously came forward to inspect. The latter poked at the cobblestones with his staff—still nothing.

“I think this is simply a new section of road,” Heilong said. “Maybe they’re trying to make repairs?”

To be safe, they walked off the road. Newly altered sections of road became more frequent the further they got. Freya also noticed the state of the buildings change.

“Hey, don’t these buildings look a lot nicer now?” Freya said, looking at one grand building in particular whose stonework gleamed pure white.

The bright artificial light overhead highlighted the contrast between the restorations. Another building to their left had columns of slightly different colored marble. Also, more of the structures appeared intact with roofs than they had seen before.

“There are fewer weeds around too,” Infamous Biscuit said.

Heilong examined the city around them with her hands on her hips, “Shouldn’t we go inside at least one building? Maybe there’s loot inside?”

She approached one of the nearest buildings and looked through the window, “It doesn’t look like there’s anything inside though, hey Freya, give me a boost.”

Freya looked inside the window. The roof of this building was collapsed, so it was easy to see inside. She helped Heilong get through the window.

Just as she was about to leap in herself, Freya saw movement.

“Hold on, wait!”

She stared at the shadow she just saw disappear behind another building.

“What is it!?” Heilong asked.

“I- I thought I saw something.”

“Where?” K13 asked, jogging up beside her.

Freya pointed, “Over there.”

K13 walked over to the other building axes out, while Freya helped Heilong back out of the window. Once Heilong was out, Freya ran around to join K13. She scanned the area, but there was no sign of an orc–at least to her eyes.

Heilong came over to the scene once it seemed there was no immediate danger. She squatted to examine the ground. “An orc was just here. I’ve seen all kinds of orc activity in this dungeon so far, but this is the freshest by far.”

“Why didn’t it attack us?” Freya asked.

“It must be a good scout, one that doesn’t aggro at first sight,” Infamous Biscuit said, troubled.

Freya frowned at Infamous Biscuit’s assessment. She surveyed their surroundings. Considering the dungeon’s high level, she thought they would be fighting every step of the way. It was too eerie that nothing had happened yet.

Infamous Biscuit sighed, “I hope they’re just scared and not scheming.”

“Somehow I doubt they’re scared.”