Legacy of the Thorn King

"Michael, are you really going to another dungeon?" Asked a man as a teenager walking into the guild building.

"That is right, Torno I am only C-Rank; I plan on passing it anytime now, and for that, I must join Draven's party since he has only A-rank Sarah in his party. I must learn as much as I can from her," Michael said as he turned in his bag of goblin ear from his last quest.

"Haa, okay, that will be put into your adventure card, a total of 34 bronze coins and 12 silver coins Remember not to lose your card again; you can only get two per year, and you already lost it twice in a dungeon," said Torno as he passed back Michael a steel card with a magical circle on it with his name and rank.

Michael decided to wait at one of the tables for Draven and his party.

****

After an hour, a man with blonde hair and knight armor walked in with a woman with white hair in mages attire and a black staff with a large red crystal on it Another woman walked in with leather amor and twin daggers on her side, brown hair up in a ponytail. A man with a lean figure walks behind him with a bow over him and no arrows around him. Then a massive man with a large hammer on his back also walked in with a smile as he ate stick of meat.

Smiling Michael ran up to them as the man with the hammer ruffled his hair as he walked to the receptionist.

"Hey there, Michael, how is life? Have you completed your other quest?" he asked as he sat down at one of the tables.

"Yeah Brute I completed it last time, but I am reading it this time," Michael said as he pulled out the complete quest sheet from his satchel.

"Yeah, you finally completed a quest without our help," the archer said, getting close.

"Hey, I do my own quest, Drowen," Michael said, pouting.

*Smack*

Draven walked up to Drowen and smacked him on the back of his head.

"Come on, brother, don't bully Michael; he is C-rank at such a young age. You only got to B-rank just a few years ago," Draven said as he patted Michael's shoulder.

"OW OW OW Sarah, how about a healing spell? Your brute of a boyfriend is hitting me again." Drowen said as he hid behind Sarah as she sighed annoyed.

"Stop fighting We are going to be a B-Ranked Dungeon, and we are going to need the energy," she said as Magen walked up to Drowen with a worried look.

"Are you okay, Drowen?" she asked meekly.

"Yeah, yeah, I am fine," he said, sounding frustrated.

After a bit of prep time and equipment checking, Draven's party and Michael set out to the dungeon of Morcaner, a dungeon that recently appeared and claimed the life of many glory-seeking adventures The recent rank-up was because it took the lives of four B-Rank veteran adventures. After a mile of walking, I made it deep into the forest, where the dungeon resides a massive whole in the ground with cellar-looking doors that separated them from a good life and potential death. With a smirk, Drowen opened the door, jumping in as the fall was not to deep—only six feet.

"Remember, they have many different monsters co-existing in this dungeon, from goblins to bug types; we must watch out." Megan said as she landed in Draven's arms, thanking him. She jumped off, running next to Drowen, who looked upset by this.

Michael dropped down, not too worried, but as they were all now in the dungeon, the entire ground shook. The once dirty path transformed into a cobblestone floor, with stone walls lining the way and torches lighting the path.

"Was this in the info?" asked Drowen, confused and scared.

"No, this was not in the information," said Megan, equally scared.

"Stay calm; we need to first find out which monster we are going to face," Draven said as he took charge and walked slowly forward, followed by everyone except Michael, who found blood trailing behind him. Looking up, he saw a massive bat sleeping. As he looked up, he saw more across the roof.

Moving fast yet quietly, he made it to the party, grabbing Sarah as she turned slightly confused He put a finger to his lips as he pointed up, his eyes widening as she saw the massive bat as she gasped in surprise, which made the bat move a bit, so she then covered her mouth with her hand. Drowen, who heard the noise, turned back, looking at Sarah and Michael to close He got mad at there seemingly intimate action.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he screamed.

*SCREEEECH*

All of the bats are now awake and alert as they set their eyes on the party diving and attacking, but the party also got ready and fought back but also moved away, but they were surrounded.

'Shit, what are we going to do? Oh, I know,' Michael thought as he killed another bat with four swings of his sword. "Sarah, use the brightest spell you have!" Michael screamed as he killed another bat.

"Okay, {Ray of Light: Sun Beam}," she chanted as a massive beam of light blasted through the corridor and burst into bats as he passed by.

Brute picked up Drowen, who was attacked the most, as they ran to the end of the corridor. As some of the bats came to attack again, making it to the end, they saw a door opening. They sigh in relief as they close it behind them as the bats bang against it, but it does not move. Michael, looking around, saw a massive room with an empty throne and a whole in the middle with two knights, one with a spear in silver armor and the other with a sword and shield in black armor.

After calming down, Sarah used light magic to heal Drowen as the once-stationed knight started to twist and turn as two light appeared in their visors and slowly walked towards up With a sharp spell, Draven drew his sword, and Megan, using fire magic, let loose three enormous fireballs at the shield, looking terrified. 

"Damn it, she must not be thinking straight. At times like this, I wish I had new magic, but I was not born with that much talent," Michael thought as he ran toward the black knight. The knight was blinded by the smoke from her spell, so Michael got beyond the knight and saw an opening at the back of the knight's knee. He plunged his sword into it and stabbed it as the knight kneeled down on one knee as three more fireballs were unleashed at the black knight, hitting it head-on but doing little to no damage.

Turning around, the knight slammed Michael away with the force of a massive bolder heading downhill. As he lay on the ground, groaning in pain, he rolled to his right as he sensed something was calling at him. Looking to his left, he saw his once-spot not stabbed by a sword. Quickly standing up, he jumped back, falling into the pit in the middle of the room as the once-active knight now dropped into scrap metal.

"What just happened?" Brute said as he stood across from Draven as they fought the silver knight.

"I do not know," said Draven, confused.

*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH*

Hearing a scream, they looked at Megan, who was crying, as she looked down at the ground in the middle of the room.

"What happened, Megan? What are you looking at?" Draven asked, confused.

"Michael... fell into the pit," she said, crying.

"Who are you talking about, and what pit? We just finished the bass room; come on, we need to get our reward," Draven said as he walked to the throne now with a spear and sword in a shield on it.

"WHAT DO YO—Yeah, who was I crying about?" she said, wiping her tears as she stood up calm and composed.

Collecting all of the loot, they soon left the once-full path that was full to the brim of the bats, not empty but moving like they were possessed. They moved in the same motion. Drowen, who was badly hurt, did not heal as fit as a bull, and Brute, who was also slashed in the eye, did not even appear scarred. Sarah, the strongest, walked, leading the way with dazed eyes. Draven, the party leader, did not even look back as they exited, Megan, who was scared and at the point to break, was as calm as a turtle, not even worried about anything.

****

'Huh, where am I?" He moved, but pain assaulted his body as he slowly moved. Noticing that he was in a bed of thorns, his body badly cut and torn, a small glimmer of light shone through what looked like a doorway, and he painfully made his way to it with every move he made, cutting and torn skin as blood dripped from his side to his back, but pushing forward, he made it to the door.

What he saw sent a shiver down his spine as a teenager around his age looked at him, seeming confused before his once confused face became a wide smile as he sat up his eye, once a dull red now brighter than any ruby as the room light up as the boy got up.

"Finally, I have waited for so long." A deep voice broke the silents.

"I am sorry, wrong door," Michael said as he walked back out, ignoring the pain of the thorns.

Before he could close the door, he felt a strong force pull him into the room, as he was now on the ground in front of the boy on a broken-through smile.

"Yes. . My successor, you, I can feel it. I can feel my blood faint, yet still, it flows through your veins for five millennia. I thought I would be until the end of time. You came finally," the boy said as blood ran down his eyes.

To Be Continued. . .