Rider Displaced

Chapter 12

"This is literally essence of a god!" Priest Frollo looked at the mysterious vial in his hands with shock, his hands lightly shaking.

Meanwhile the others were frozen and didn't know how to respond since it's a wild thought to be holding what could be a fraction of a god's power. Where did such an item come from, and why did they just so happen to come upon it on the first floor of a simple dungeon?

"Essence of a god," Sir Dante said with disbelief. "How can you tell that's what it is?"

"Because whenever we clerics use our power, it comes from the gods we worship. However the power we're granted is minuscule compared to this thing." The amount of power he felt from the vial was unlike anything he ever felt. Yet the feeling was familiar as he'd used borrowed magic from gods before. However the power he was granted paled in comparison to the vial. It felt as if he was holding a god in his hand.

"I take from your guys' reactions this is no ordinary find, is it?" Walker guessed as he had no idea what was going on, or if a god's essence was an item that could regularly be found in dungeons. "What does this god's essence do? Do we drink it our mix it with something else?"

"I—I don't know." Frollo answered. "Never have I or any other cleric stumbled upon an item such as this. This could be the very first find, if these are super rare items. However something doesn't add up at all." The cleric stated. "These golden chests shouldn't be here. Sure we found good spoils in the other chests, but those were more than what should be expected of the first floor. Not only do we find loot that should be found down in the lower floors, but we come across what could be the one and only or first of many. It just doesn't make sense."

"Normally I would say you're overthinking things," Sir Dante spoke up. "But...I have to agree with you for once. This cannot be some normal coincidence. This feels deliberate, as if something altered the dungeon itself."

"But who or what?" Vunora questioned. "No one, not even the most powerful magicians can alter the dungeons. It's been attempted countless times and all attempts have ended fruitless."

"At least whatever is responsible did not desire misfortune upon us." Frollo stated. "The changes have brought us greater fortune rather than despair, and the challenges remain unaltered. We were given better loot, but we still had to earn it not knowing what we would find." His logic made sense, since if anything wanted to put their lives in peril, why make the rewards greater and the mobs remain unaltered? Whatever is responsible was in favor of them.

"Then I guess there's no real reason to dwell on it?" Walker suggested. "We aren't in danger—, more danger, and we got some sweet prizes. As much as I am for caution sometimes, I think we don't have much to worry about."

"Agreed," Frollo responded and tossed the vial of essence back to the rider. "You do what you want since you're the one who first picked it up."

Inspecting the small vial, Walker stored it away for a special occasion that he didn't even know yet. He had no idea what to do with it, and didn't think drinking it was a good idea, let alone touch the essence since it could literally kill him if it held the power of a god.

"Shall we move on? See what the next floor offers?"

They were done in the center chamber and climbed the pedestal with the inactive portal. Sir Dante stepped forward and pressed down on the red glowing press pad, activating the portal to take them to the next floor. Once again they crossed through a void like portal and emerged in a similar starting zone as the previous floor. They were presented with two route, the first filled with dangerous mobs but lead directly to the center chamber and portal. The second had many alternative routes with a variety of encounters and rooms containing possible loot. Their undivided choice was the second route to fight weaker mobs and grab more basic loot.