The Birth of Fantasy

Chapter 11

Immediately upon stepping through the vortex, it felt as if a wetness covered my entire body. Like I had dipped into a bathtub. Then the feeling peeled away from my skin, and I found myself in a rather large circular room with hanging braziers from the ceiling. At the center stood a stone pillar with a large purple crystal atop of it. Around the room were multiple wooden doors randomly set around the outer edge of the room. A moment later, Kiszo stepped through the portal and began walking to the closest door on our right.

"This will lead us to the bigger mine where they extract copper. We can hunt around that location for the next few days or until you clear it out. We'll sleep in one of the miner's lodgings at night, outside of the dungeon."

"What's the purple crystal at the center?"

"The Dungeon's console, don't touch it. It could possibly move you to a random location within the Dungeon's levels."

I followed her through the large door and entered a dark, humid stone tunnel. The tunnel was half a meter taller than Kiszo and wide enough for four people to walk side by side. A torch was affixed to the cave's wall every few meters, illuminating our path as we walked.

I could hear the miners working away before we came to them: the rhythmic 'tinks' and 'taps' coming from deeper within the tunnel. As we turned one last sharp corner, a large cavern came into view. Spread throughout the massive room were Beastkin miners working on their respective walls.

Most were minging into the walls where shiny metallic pieces glinted in the firelight. A smaller Beastkin was darting around to each miner, grabbing chunks from the ground and bringing them to the center of the room. He would then toss them onto or into a small circular platform, I couldn't see where the chunks went.

Getting closer to the center, I could see the same inky blackness take up most of the platform's center. I continued to watch as the young Beastkin would toss the chunks of metal and stone into the blackness then move on to the next miner's pile.

"Where does this lead to?" I asked Kiszo.

"It goes into a large box back at the village. There the chunks are processed and smelted down into ingots."

"How does the portal work? Better yet, who makes these portals?"

"Void or space mages create them with some kind of rune system. The village paid for the creation of this one, and others spread throughout the forest a few generations ago. It helps us move materials and food between the smaller outposts and the village."

"I'm very much interested in learning more about these portals. Where I came from, they used these to preserve food and drinks."

"Widespread use of one-way portals. Everything inside goes into stasis. It works wonders for food, plants, and materials, but make sure never to put anything that requires oxygen inside, as they will die quickly."

We walked past the miners and towards a makeshift wall at the far end. It became apparent as we got closer it was a fortification placed within the cavern. I could see multiple archers atop the wall with a few melee fighters sitting near the makeshift door.

"Kiszo! I haven't seen you in ages! Who's your smoothed-skinned friend?" A muscular canine Beastkin shouted from his seat near the wall's door.

"Ginnie, this is Zeal. He washed ashore a few days ago. His people's ship didn't survive a mana storm. I'm taking him to hunt and level up, so he may one day survive in our lands on his own."

"Always the one to take someone under your wing. It's been quiet for days now. You may have to travel a bit to find anything worth slaying. I wish you luck, new friend Zeal, but Kiszo always takes care of her own."