“Well, that’s not ominous at all.” I said looking at the New Quest on my PDA.

  “I know,” Answered Sam. “It’s not like we already knew we had to survive, that’s, like, our first directive.”

  I nodded as I looked around the room. “This looks a lot larger than the rooms in the previous floor.” I pointed at several passageways outside of the cavern. “There are also a lot more options to move to.”

  I looked down at my PDA and opened the Map App (The Pathfinder). I was met with 13 small notifications and 13 points appearing in the black of the map. I noted seven of them were labeled as “Resource Gathering Points” while the remaining 6 had names specific names. Of those six three had names that didn’t tell me much but the rest were labeled with names that did feel useful, “Boss Chamber”, “The Inner Inn” and “Dungeon Depot”, although we wouldn’t be going to both in this floor, as the Inn and the Depot were in opposite directions from each other and only the Inn was in the general direction of the Boss.

  “Looks like you might be able to meet Benny soon.” I said. “Though something called ‘The Crystalline Cliffs’ is in between here and The Inner Inn.”

  Sam didn’t answer, which prompted me to turn towards her. She was looking at her PDA worryingly. “Sam?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

  She pointed at the PDA. “There are seven other adventurers in the chat for this section.” She said. “Or at least, there were…”

  “Were?”

  “Yes…” She looked at me. “Only eight of us are shown as active in the Chat… and someone called Louis just wrote she found the dead body of a woman in one of the caves…”

  “It could have been a monster, right?”

  “It could,” she said. “But he also wrote the wounds looked like stab wounds.”

  I gulped. “Well, that’s just… peachy.”

  Not only monsters, now we had some sort of murdered in our hands. I opened my own Torchlight app, a heated conversation was being held between six people.

  I glanced at Sam. "They're already at each other’s throats. This is just perfect."

  She sighed, her green eyes scanning her own screen. “Do you think we should say something? Or just… stay out of it for now?”

  Before I could answer, a new message appeared.

  Sam gave me a pointed look. “Well, I guess we’re part of it now.”

  “Fantastic.” I muttered, typing out a message.

  The chat slowed down for a moment, giving me a chance to breathe. I looked at Sam. "This is going to get messy."

  She nodded, her grip tightening on her staff. “We should try to avoid them if we can. At least until we figure out who we can trust.”

  “Agreed.” I said, looking back at the chat as the conversation picked up again.

  A series of “yes” and “no” messages followed. I watched as the votes tallied, and in the end, it was six to two in favor of meeting, including us.

  After some colorful choice words from Ivy and an excuse from Valerie saying she was too far away to make it in time, the chat went silent. I closed the app and looked at Sam. “What do you think? Should we go? I know we voted yes, but we could just… not go”

  She hesitated, chewing on her lip. “It might be useful. We could learn more about the others, maybe figure out who’s trustworthy. But it’s risky.”

  I nodded, gripping the knuckleduster on my hand. “Yeah. Risky feels like an understatement. Let’s gear up and see how this plays out.”

  Sam fidgeted with her staff, I checked my shield was strapped to my arm and we set off toward the Inner Inn, the tension in the air almost as sharp as the crystals around us.

  I looked at my map and chose the opening in the cave closest to the Inner Inn.

  The cave opened up before us and I just stood there, staring. This whole place’s feeling was different to the hallways from the previous floor, this place felt… organic, natural, as if we had been dropped in the middle of an actual cave system. In the jagged rock of the walls, I could see glowing veins of crystals, exploding into clusters of bright blue crystal, their sharp edges jutting out like frozen shards of sky.

  Pale light poured from those lines, bathing the entire space in an eerie, pulsating with unseen energy. The whole place was filled with a constant, barely perceptible hum of energy coming from the crystals, but it was more a feeling than a sound, like the cave itself was breathing beneath my skin.

  The air was dry, with a faint metallic tang that clung to the back of my throat. Every step felt cautious and deliberate; the ground was uneven and movement slow, although we weren’t that far away from our destination. It was clear to me why they had given us several hours to reach the Inn, I just hoped it would be enough.

  Sam adjusted her staff and pointed it in front of us. “Water bullet!” She said… to no effect.

  Only a drop of water falling from the ceiling answered her call. “It’s not working.” She said. “Why does this thing not have instructions?”

  “Because it would be too easy.” I said. “Magic is not a normal thing, so maybe the dungeon wants you to learn something else before being able to use it.” I pointed at her head.

  “What, you think I also need a pointy hat or something?” She asked, grinning. “Or do you just want to see me dressed as a witch?”

  “Nah,” I answered. “I mean, it wouldn’t be bad, but I was saying you might need concentration, that’s a fairly common thing for magic users in games and stuff, and this place feels, for a lack of other terms, fairly generic.”

  She stopped for a second. “Ok,” She said, closing her eyes and lifting her staff. “I’ll try.”

  I stopped next to her and sat on a rock. “I’ll be right here.” I reached into my backpack and pushed some popcorn into my mouth. “It’s not like we need to be at the inn in three hours or anything.”

  But she didn’t answer. I’d seen it happen before from time to time, so it wasn’t completely new to me, but it still surprised me when it happened. Sam had the uncanny ability to hyper focus in one specific activity for long periods of time, that’s how she had pulled off getting a masters while she studied her undergrad.

  She stood still, unmoving, as if she was looking for something inside herself.

  The hum of the cave’s energy grew louder as I leaned back against the jagged rock, popping another handful of popcorn into my mouth. Sam stood motionless, her eyes closed and her staff raised like she was listening to something I couldn’t hear. The faint metallic tang in the air seemed stronger now, and the vibration from the crystals felt like it was crawling under my skin.

  Then, I heard it. A deep, rhythmic thudding, like a heartbeat made of stone. The ground beneath me trembled slightly with each beat, sending a jolt through my bones. My head snapped toward the nearest glowing crystal vein as the sound grew louder, more insistent, the light from the crystal pulsating like a beating heart.

  “Sam,” I whispered, the popcorn suddenly forgotten. “Something’s coming.”

  She didn’t answer. She didn’t even flinch.

  The crystal vein closest to us suddenly flared brighter, the blue light bursting out in sharp, jagged streaks. Then, with a sound like shattering glass, a mechanical hand began to crawl out of the broken crystal, dragging a large body behind it.

  The thing that emerged was massive—towering at least three heads over me. Its body was a crude amalgamation of jagged crystal and tarnished metal, cobbled together into a humanoid form. Its head was resembled that of an ancient automaton that had been covered in clear crystal, two pinpoints of harsh white light stared directly at me.

  Each step it took made the ground shake, and the crystal veins in the walls pulsed in time with its movements.

  “Sam,” I said again, louder this time. “We’ve got company!”

  Still nothing.

  The automaton's moved its arms like clubs, hitting the ground and walls around it with them. It stomped forward, and before I could think, I was on my feet, shield raised.

  Its first swing came fast—too fast for something that big. The metallic fist slammed into my shield with a deafening clang, the force sending me rolling backward. My arm throbbed from the impact, but I had barely enough time to recover as the automaton followed up with another strike. I ducked, the monster’s left arm slicing through the air above me with a high-pitched whine.

  “Anytime now, Sam!” I shouted, swinging my knuckleduster into the automaton’s leg. The blow landed with a dull crack, but it barely seemed to notice. It turned toward me, its glowing "eyes" narrowing as it raised both arms for a double strike.

  I rolled to the side, its arms slamming into the rock where I’d just been standing. Shards of stone flew in every direction, one slicing across my cheek. I felt warm blood trickle down, but I pushed the pain aside and launched myself at its side, sending a straight with my fist into a joint where crystal met metal followed by a left in the same spot, hitting the crack with the edge of my shield. This time, it staggered, the glowing in its crystals dimming momentarily.

  “Okay, maybe I can hurt you,” I muttered, darting out of range as it swung its arm wildly, gouging deep grooves into the rock wall.

  The thing roared—a sound like grinding stone—and lunged again. This time, I used my shield to deflect the blow, pivoting to land another strike at its leg. The crystal cracked further, and the automaton stumbled, one leg dragging awkwardly as it turned to face me.

  “Sam!” I shouted, desperation creeping into my voice. She still stood perfectly still, as if nothing was happening. “This is not the time to be zen right now!”

  The automaton raised its blade arms again, and I braced myself, shield up. But just before it could strike, Sam’s voice rang out, clear and confident.

  “I think I got it!”

  Her eyes snapped open, and she leveled her staff at the automaton. The crystal at its tip flared to life, glowing with an intense, swirling blue light.

  “Water Bullet!” she shouted.

  A sphere of water erupted from the staff’s tip, slamming into the automaton’s chest with the force of a cannonball. The exposed metal buckled under the force, pushing the creature backwards. The automaton froze mid-swing, the light in its "eyes" flickering before fading entirely. With a final groan, it crumbled to the ground, a heap of metal and shattered crystal.

  I lowered my shield, panting heavily. “Great timing,” I muttered, wiping the blood from my cheek.

  Sam turned to me, a triumphant grin on her face. “Told you I’d figure it out.”

  I stared at her for a moment before laughing, shaking my head. “You really like to cut it close, don’t you?”

  She shrugged, twirling her staff with newfound confidence. “What can I say? I’m a natural.”