Pieces of Sonder

“What the heck was that?” Infamous Biscuit said once the crashing sound stopped.

A plume of dust still hung in the air around them.

“Sounds like part of the tunnel collapsed,” Freya said, waving her hand in front of her face to clear the dust.

Heilong coughed, “I bet it was intentional.”

Cautiously continuing down the corridor, they soon found the cause of the disturbance. Huge boulders blocked the main hallway from the floor to the ceiling. The white marble floor had cracked from the fallen rocks.

Freya jumped on top of one of the large pieces of rock that rolled away from the rest. She surveyed the collapse.

“Hey, there is a smaller passageway over there,” she pointed.

To the right of the collapse, there was an opening that looked like an offshoot of the main corridor. Apart from a few rocks that were scattered through it, the smaller hallway looked untouched.

“So I guess we’re supposed to go through here,” Infamous Biscuit said, frowning as he looked down their new path.

Heilong kicked at some rocks that blocked the main corridor, “I wonder what’s past here that they didn’t want us to reach.”

Freya frowned, “Hopefully, they didn’t block off the way to the boss.”

“I don’t think that would happen. The game wouldn’t design an impossible dungeon,” Infamous Biscuit said.

“Who knows if this dungeon is playing by the game’s rules anymore,” Heilong countered. 

Freya looked at her with concern, but Heilong smiled back. 

“Let’s go check it out.”

Freya couldn’t share her enthusiasm; this whole situation made her apprehensive. She took the enchanted light from Infamous Biscuit and led the way down the small hallway. White tile still lined this floor, but it was laid in a slightly different pattern than the main hallway. She kept focused on spotting anything out of place. It was a relatively short walk to the next open room. Sensing nothing strange, Freya waved K13 and the others forward. 

The room was empty, however upon closer inspection, square parts of the floor were cleaner than others. Heilong crouched and examined the clean sections of floor and the scuff marks around the room. 

“It looks like a bunch of things were just moved out of here,” Heilong said, standing back up. “Like this was a storage room or something.”

On the other end of the room was another tunnel. However, unlike the rest of the dungeon, this tunnel had no flooring or constructed walls. It was a simple dirt tunnel.

After deciding there was nothing more to examine in the empty room, they entered the dirt tunnel. Gravel crunched under their feet. This tunnel was even more narrow than the rest. The walls seemed to close in on them as they kept walking. The back of Freya’s neck twitched. Her loud breathing echoed in her ears. 

Then she spotted light ahead. Finally, another room! It didn’t look all that big, but Freya still approached cautiously. The enchanted lights up ahead hung on dirt walls similar to the walls of the tunnel.

Freya and K13 slowly entered the new space.

Then in the corner of her eye, movement.

“Orcs!” Freya shouted.

Tall spears at the ready, more than a dozen green armored creatures lined the right side of the dungeon. The only fortunate part was they were at least twenty meters away, if they could-

“Hurk Hurk Hurk, welcome unwelcome guests.”

A cold shiver ran through Freya. Above the horde of standard high orc text boxes, a large text box loomed.

[High Orc Lord]

[Lvl 20] [2500/2500]

Freya tried to match the text box to the orc. But all the orc spearman looked the same. Finally, the orc spearman parted to reveal a shorter high orc. The [High Orc Lord] text box floated above it. Still, Freya couldn’t quite believe it. 

The High Orc Lord did not wear armor like the others; instead, it wore black robes similar to a wizard’s. Since it didn’t wear a helmet, Freya had a clear view of its sinister, sneering face. Compared to the normal orcs, the high orc’s face was more wrinkled and distorted. Its eyes were more sunken into its face, while its forehead protruded out into a point. 

“Ark hurkk urm lessus. Filthy humans invading our home, please die,” the High Orc Lord said in a gravelly voice. Although the message came out clearly, each syllable was stilted and warped. 

K13 came forward. The other orcs behind the orc lord tensed and shifted forward. 

“How can you speak in the human tongue?” Heilong asked, cocking her head to the side. 

Freya and Infamous Biscuit gave her an are-you-crazy look, but Heilong continued, “I didn’t think any monsters could speak in a discernable way.”

“Huurk. We high orcs have long waited for our time again. Some things had to be studied so they can be destroyed.”

The orc lord waved his hand forward. The other orcs advanced. 

Activating his Red Aura aggro, K13 charged.

For a moment, the orc lord’s eye shifted up, then looked straight at K13.

Freya looked up.

“NO! THE CEILING!”

She froze. Above them a massive slab of stone fell. Half the ceiling was falling! Where could she run? Could the others make it out? If only she had looked up earlier, if only she had noticed-

“Wall of air.”

K13’s calm voice shook her. Above them, the slab of stone hit his barrier.

“Ugh,” K13 held his hands up but collapsed to his knees. His arms shook, and the strain shown on his face.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Infamous Biscuit said, crouched down. He grabbed Heilong and dragged her out of the path of the fall.

Freya ran to K13 and tackled him out of the way.

BOOM!

The shockwave knocked Freya forward. Her ears rang. Disorientated, she looked for her party members. She spotted Infamous Biscuit and Heilong first, knocked down but okay. Turning around, she saw K13. He also looked fine, but his ID screen told a different story.

[K13]

[Lvl 16 Berserker]

[200/670 HP] [40/60 MP]

In front of them, the Orc Lord and his companions stared down at them. 

“URRK, nesurk lessus! Hurn nif!” the Orc Lord pointed at them. 

The high orc spearman advanced towards them.