The Homeseeker: An Elemental Adventurer LitRPG

Chapter 31 - Docrun

The group prowled forward, remaining as quiet and cautious as they could whenever they crossed into a new room. They had traversed three chambers so far, each one growing darker as sunlight dim and sparse. They were searching for an area with stairs, as that would lead them to the peak of the castle where the dragon presumably resided. Rep had ignited a flame of his own, not satisfied with Fran being the single source of light in the darkened corridors.

Yelsa had made her way to Fran and was clinging onto her tunic, wanting to remain close to the light that repelled the cave crickets that they still occasionally witnessed. They saw the insects less frequently the deeper they traveled, likely as the lack of food was causing it to be harder to proliferate as a species within the walls. Zalan continued analyzing what he could in the dancing shadows of the rooms they passed through, trying to put together the story of what happened to the people. There were chairs and small chambers where dozens of servants probably lived, but no sign of them. He even looked for skeletons to no avail.

He suddenly realized that he might be the only one wondering. The others might have known the history of the castle and assumed he knew as well, despite their promises to treat him as a fool that knew nothing.

"What happened to the Castle of Docrun? It looks like there used to be so many people," Zalan asked.

"Docrun himself is what happened," Gorb said gravely.

Zalan waited a few seconds before realizing that Gorb thought that was somehow an adequate response.

"What did Docrun do?" Zalan prompted.

"King Docrun was a decent ruler with a good kingdom. His people tolerated him in such a way that some might even say they enjoyed his rule. He was not known for saying unkind words or being unfair to others. But they were not steadfastly loyal. And he was incredibly vain. He saw others in his kingdom that had Elemental Powers and said that he wanted the power himself. He said, 'What kind of ruler is weaker than his people?'"

"Plenty of them," Fran answered cynically from the front of the group.

"Be that as it may," Gorb continued. "He sent his people out in search of an Elemental that would give him unrivaled strength. One finally returned with word of an Elemental that he may be interested in. A Dark Elemental. They and the Bright Elementals are notorious for immensely difficult challenges. His people begged him not to accept the challenge. But he was arrogant. He could not be powerless. The challenge was severe. The Elemental sent a dragon to this castle for him to defeat."

"Alone?" Yelsa asked, stunned.

"Indeed. An Elemental's challenge must always be taken on alone. Worse yet, when Docrun failed, the dragon remained behind. It decided that the hoard room would be its home," Gorb said.

"So people lived in the same castle as a dragon?" Zalan asked.

"Far from it. The people left after having attempted to gain access to the king's treasures. But no one could touch the treasures of Docrun, even after he died in combat with the monster. The wealth of the castle was locked up, protected by a monster that no one had access to. In addition, Docrun was very protective of his wealth, known for setting traps to stop intruders. Even his closest advisors had no advantages in obtaining his riches. As a result, no one knew exactly how much he had. There was much speculation that he wanted an Elemental Power because he was running out of wealth and needed another way to keep order. They said that perhaps he died poor, but never wanted his kingdom to be made aware. No one thought it was worth the trouble to defeat the dragon. Instead, the castle's people took what they could of the castle's furnishings and left," Gorb said.

Zalan took another look at the threadbare surroundings and was finally able to understand the circumstances of this setting.

"How long ago was that?" Zalan asked.