Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 194: The veil

The three parties entered through the trapdoor, this time the ones at the front were Jon and Sam because they were the best equipped. While Sam could see in the dark without issues, Jon was the strongest and fastest among everyone and he could deal with anything that could prove to be dangerous.

Unlike the fort that was made of adobe, the staircase was made of grey stone and it was spacious enough for four people to walk shoulder in shoulder. Uriel was sulking at the bottom of the group after losing his war bonnet, along with him were Nika, Medusa and Luna trying to comfort him.

"Don’t worry, I bet we’ll find better things."

"It’s the price of knowledge. You can’t have your cake and eat it too."

"I’m sorry you lost it, but if the dungeon had been opened before it means the keys can be recovered."

Nika, Luna and Medusa said in order, though only Medusa’s words managed to brighten his mood somewhat. Still, it felt nice that his friends did their best to lift up his mood and he tried to take his mind away from his loss. At some point, something strange happened.

"When did you get here?" Sam asked. "You were supposed to be at the bottom!"

"And you at the front." Uriel shrugged his shoulders.

"We’ve been climbing down the whole time, how is this possible?" Sam asked Jon, but the holy rank hunter was busy reading the diary.

"I kind of expected something like this, but I didn’t think it’d be so uncanny."

"What do you mean?" Uriel asked without much hopes of getting a straight answer from the ever annoying holy rank hunter.

"I’ve been to another dungeon before, it was located at the bottom of the Atlantic sea which made getting there pretty difficult but once there it was easy entering. There was something strange though, right before entering it we had to cross some sort of... I don’t know how to describe it."

"Something like a membrane?" Uriel asked with a questioning look.

"So, you’ve been to a dungeon before! The old man refused to tell me anything about it. You need to tell me how was it! Did you find the artifact? Did you clear it?"

"Mister Jon, I don’t think we can spare the time. This place gives me the creeps." Seiren, who remained behind Jon at all times, butted in.

"You’re probably right. As I was telling you, between the physical entrance and the actual entrance to the dungeon there was something in the middle. It was like a different world where physics didn’t apply. In that case, we were submerged into water but we could breathe normally."

"I see," Uriel pondered for a few seconds on whether he should disclose what he learned about Xibalbá, the dark wasteland where he walked aimlessly for who knows how long, but he ended up deciding to do it for one simple reason. He was also very thrown off by the strange properties of that place. "in the case of the dungeon I went to, there was this... void.

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It was as though nothing existed, but I could walk on it."

"This is no void, I can see the walls. They’re just black." Sam shrugged.

"And yet, we walked down and somehow, even though we were the first in line and they were at the bottom, we bumped into each other without you noticing."

Now that Uriel knew there was this ’in-between’ place in every dungeon, he thought of doing the same thing he did back when he was lost in Xibalbá. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his mystical sense to find something that could resemble a door or maybe a presence without any success.

However, when he attempted to enter his museum something strange happened. Not only was he unable to enter his trait, he couldn’t even summon an artifact. He felt as though something that had become as natural to him as breathing, something that had become a part of him, was now taken from him. Experience new stories on novelbuddy

"How is this possible!?" He gasped. "Can you guys activate your traits?"

"Mine’s working properly." Sam nodded.

"Nice try, but I’m not showing my trait here. Besides, I don’t think any of you would survive if I do so."

"I can’t! I can’t do it!" Nika shouted as though she had been blinded. "Did I lose it?"

"No," Uriel shook his head. "It’s probably because of the nature of your trait. The thing you told me."

What he was referring to, was to the contract that allowed Nika to possess Uriel’s shadow which was a requirement for her to activate her trait. Uriel could theorize about possessions, traits and whatnot for ages and still not reach a conclusion, however, that gave him a clue about his current whereabouts.

’This place is too similar to Xibalbá and to the mystical realm too. Assuming this is correct, then...’

"Everyone, turn off your light and shut your eyes."

"Wonderful!" Jon laughed. "You reached the answer all by yourself."

"What?"

"It’s all in David Crockett’s diary. He wandered in this place until his light ran out, next thing he knew he was on ’the other side’ of the veil."

"Then why didn’t you say so from the beginning!?"

"Don’t bother," Nika placed a hand on Uriel’s shoulder. "he’s just that annoying."

"To be honest, I wanted to take a minute to explore this place because I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to come back here but that’s not all. Native American tribes didn’t believe in ’heaven’ or ’hell’, in fact, they believed that after death the spirit remained but we couldn’t see them because of the veil in our eyes." With Jon’s explanation everything was made clear but Uriel grew suspicious.

"Did you know about the entrance?"

"Maybe..." Jon said with a shit eating grin.

Uriel realized he was being played into believing his contributions were more important than they actually were and felt that Jon was making fun of him for the second time. Had it been his past self he might have fallen into self deprecation but now things were different. He already hated the man, but now he couldn’t stand his presence and his hatred for Jon Hunter grew stronger.

"What are you waiting for? Close your eyes already." Jon prompted Uriel to follow his own advice with his usual tone of voice, but Uriel interpreted it as mockery.

’I’m definitely killing him before coming out of this place.’ He swore to himself.