Primal Dawn

As foreign as the portal looked, the feeling of being inside it was unnaturally familiar to Peter. It was the same sensation he would rarely have at times when stuck lying awake in bed. The sudden terrifying feeling of ‘falling’. Despite the eyes showing that it was not the case, the body still reacted by instinct, bracing itself for impact that would never come.

That was the only thing Peter could draw similarity to as he floated in this weird space. After a short while, despite instinct telling him he didn’t have the footing to do it, something compelled him to try and take a step forward. The next instant, he found himself in a dim room lit by candles hanging from the walls. He squeezed with each hand, and they were both returned. Everyone else from the group was already huddled in the center, bathed in a slight blue glow. Peter turned around and noticed the portal had turned blue.

“Two paths from the start,” the leader spoke aloud. “Although it’s unfortunate we had a Dungeon Break, we’re not changing our strategy. Stay safe, stay alive. We’re almost there.” A few murmurs and head nods followed. “Start like always. Those with potions here, the rest over there.”

The tamers began to shuffle to their respective groups, and within a moment settled into their positions.

“Mike…” he said with a slightly annoyed tone. A tamer who was standing within Peter’s group sighed and moved to the other, along with his primals.

“Bastard,” a nearby tamer whispered.

“Alright,” the leader waved his hand at the halfway mark of each group, splitting them into halves. He then signaled for a group from each side to join with one from the other. They were roughly ten tamers in size each.

Fira and Jack were in the other group. Did Bryan join group three? Peter looked around but couldn’t find him. 

“Who's going to lead?” the leader asked aloud.

“I’ve got it, Levi,” Jack said.

Levi paused for a moment and waited to see if anyone else volunteered, but finally nodded and walked towards him, handing him something. “Commission is the same as always. Squires, second and up evolutions, and rares. Each group has three stones for quota and two for replenishment. Do your best and stay safe. Let’s finish Shantee strong.”

Levi was in charge of Peter’s group and headed toward the right entrance. As he walked his right hand never left the right wall, sliding slowly across. In front of him were presumably his two primals. A Frentus, the evolved form of a Fren, and a Taurus. Unlike the more docile feeling the one which pulled the wagons had, she seemed big, strong, and dangerous with her large two-handed ax gripped tightly.

The entrance led to a narrow hallway, barely wide enough to support two humans side by side. Some of the primals were big enough that they had to walk single file.

Peter was last in line, Kalista and Gaia ahead of him. His eyes kept wandering downwards. This was torture. He already knew what he would spend his next free moment doing.

The line of tamers and primals stopped. "On my signal, we rush into the room," Levi said. "Take up as much space as you can, and surround the enemy… GO!"

"Howooooool!" His Frentus howled. Everyone began to move faster and rushed forward. As Peter turned the bend in the hallway, he saw that the room they were entering was similar in appearance to the initial one, only larger. Sounds of a fight began to ring in his ears.

There were seven ferals from what Peter could see. Two Goblins, a Squire, and the remaining four were made up of two types which Peter didn't recognize. 

One had pockets of brown fur on her hands and legs, the hands adorned with menacing sharp black claws with a smooth black patch at the center of her palm. Her hair was brown and at the top adorned with two cute fuzzy ears, which were in contrast to the vicious expression she had as she swung those large paws to carve out flesh and metal alike. There were two of them.

The other kind was similar in structure to an Arachne, but with several differences. Six legs instead of eight. Their lower form looked much tougher than an Arachne's, but based on their movements it seemed to come at the cost of slower movement. Her upper half seemed to consist of an armor stretching around her back to her sides just barely reaching the nipples. Perhaps the most prominent feature were the three horns at the top. One very large in the center which forked at the end into two, and then two smaller pointing to the sides.

The battle turned into two lines of primals duking it out. Since the tamers were overwhelmingly larger in number, they would have encircled the ferals had they not slowly moved back into a corner, with the two Goblins in the rear supporting the five melee attackers. 

Each side was just as focused on causing hits as they were avoiding them. It seemed like the fight would drag on forever. Peter spotted Levi's Taurus trying to break through on the side to little success. Before he could even think of anything next, he heard, "Living Armor!" next to him.

Protective roots began to wrap around her, and she shouted "Thanks!" As she charged forward. "Lumbering Strike!" she shouted as she slowly lifted her ax upwards into the air before bringing it down.

The first feral to die was one of the furry ones. As her body hit the ground, it began to burn some sort of blue powder. In the next moments, her entire corpse vanished in a heap of blueish smoke. A small stack of fur was all that was left behind.

One by one, the ferals continued to go down, all turning to blue dust, but leaving behind different things. The other furry primal left behind some coins. The six legged primals both left behind coins too.

Finally, all that remained was the Squire and the two Goblins she was presently defending. A few good hits on the Squire caused her to drop to one knee, and the tamers’ primals kicked her weapons away from her and advanced on the Goblins. The first Goblin left behind… meat? When the last Goblin ‘died’, black strands began to unravel around her, revealing a primall in a gothic dress. The reveal lasted for only a short instant before she vanished along with the other dead ferals.

A few of the tamers began to groan and complain.

“You should have held back!”

“Nobody realized it was a Mimic besides me?”

“Loot time!” Levi shouted, interrupting the growing discontent as he captured the Squire. He quickly collected the items off the ground and listed them off. “One fur, one jerky set, and thirty-five coppers. Let’s roll for the items now. Gather round, tamers.” Levi’s hand dug into his pocket before tossing something onto the ground. As it clicked and clattered across the floor, Peter instantly recognized the sound of a dice rolling. When it stopped, Levi picked it up and rolled it a second time, and then scanned the tamer’s faces, before tossing the fur towards one of them. He did the same with the jerky, whose recipient quickly devoured it under everyone’s jealous stare.

“Money at the end as always. Any injuries?”

One primal raised their hand. She had a set of claw marks going through her chest.

“...We can cover something like that. Gaia?” Peter said.

“Heal!”

After some moments, the injuries were healed and the primals flesh restored. 

"Good start. Let's keep moving," Levi announced, before heading towards the next room.