Finding The Source

The moon in the skies released it's light down upon the world.

In the forest separated by a few feet were three groups of adventurers. These were the adventurers in which Jay encountered and was forced to be apart of.

Jay walked through the forest with the middle group behind him. This group contained the leader and several other adventurers, while the woman from earlier was apart of the left most group.

The plan was to walk deeper into the forest until finding the source of the walking corpses. It was believe that a magic wielding adventurer or mage was responsible. The others made it clear that no such magic was ever recorded but Jay had an idea.

"Necromancy" he thought. "Most likely the corpses are being brought back to life due to a necromancer who is spreading their magic through the forest."

It was really the only thing he could think of but also made the most sense.

The group had chosen to venture through the forest at night because adventurers claimed the corpses would never come to life during the day. It was concluded that whatever was causing this only worked at night.

Small creatures scurried across the ground as the groups headed the opposite direction. The direction in which Jay himself had ran from just minutes before.

Occasionally, the loud explosion-like sound could be heard in the distance.

"What exactly do we do when we find the person responsible?" Jay asked Arthur the leader. The leaders had refused to provide the full plan with the thought that Jay was actually the one responsible.

"We will find the person responsible and hopefully capture them without a fight. If they fight back though, we will be have to use force." Arthur replied.

Slash Slash Slash

The sounds of a sword slashing through a beast could be heard. A few feet to the left was the group lead by Martha, the co-leader.

Around where she stood was the fallen bodies of three Mega Alces, the moose-like beast which Jay had also defeated earlier. Blood dripped off the dual swords which looked as light as a feather in her hands.

The fallen bodies began to rise to their feet and walked away with no plans to continue the fight. The same event Jay had observed just earlier that day.

"All groups regroup and follow the corpses." Arthur commanded causing all three groups to merge together.

The group followed the corpses for nearly twenty minutes. Every few minutes, the loud explosion-like sound became closer. It was clear that the group was nearing the source of the sound which was hopefully the source of the walking corpses as well.

The corpses led the group to a dark cave. While the corpses continued, the group stopped outside.

"The reason for this mission is most likely within this cave. Whatever strange mage is inside is capable of spreading his magic through the entire forest. Stay on high alert as we enter and no matter whatever happens, no one is to be left behind." said Arthur who now drew his long-sword.

With a swift hand gesture. two adventurers stepped forward with a grimoire floating ahead of them. Flames appeared within their hands lighting up the area around them. Arthur followed behind with Jay at his side. The group continued forward into the unknown.

The sounds of light footsteps filled the cave. Drops of water fell from above and every now and then a small rock would be kicked producing a low sound.

The explosion-like sound had stopped upon their entry into the cave, almost like the sound was being used to lure them there.

The cave went down, up, to the right, left, down and all sorts of directions. It felt like a maze with multiple dead ends being encountered and only a few paths actually leading to another area.

Corpses of beast littered the cave. None moved nor attacked as if they were really dead this time. The group was not sure of an effective way to defeat beast that were already dead and therefore, they avoided attacking.

Although many paths were present, Arthur commanded that everyone stayed together to lower the risk of losing even a single life.

Jay had a feeling that Arthur was indeed a good person but he did not trust a single person in the group. If the worst case scenario was to present itself, he would leave as fast as he could.

He was confident in his speed but was still unaware of the group member's abilities and strengths.

Path after path, the group only got further into the cave. No one looked worried and when asked about how they would find their way back, Arthur informed Jay of special navigators in the group.

The group soon arrived at another dead end but this one was different. Connected to the stone wall was a purplish portal. A portal similar to the one that appeared when Jay defeated the dungeon boss.

The group's full focus was now on the portal which was the most likely source for the current events.

Had a dungeon appeared within the cave? Jay was never told how dungeon's work except for their use for adventuring and discovering new beast and materials. Guilds find dungeons which they send adventurers in to defeat the boss and gather all materials.

Defeating the boss opens the portal to the outside world which closes after 24 hours.

"What do we do about this?" asked an adventurer within the group.

"I believe this is the cause of the strange events and if we leave now to alert a guild, we could be to late in countering whatever is inside." said Arthur who had walked closer to the portal. He seemed to be inspecting it as if he could find it's origins just from it's sight.

"We should not enter an unknown tunnel, especially when not a single person other than us know where it is. What if we die and never get found?" Jay added.

Martha stepped forward, both hands holding a sword. "Our mission is not complete till we stop whatever is happening. This portal is the only way." she said as she jumped in.

Arthur did not look worried or even shocked. It was like he expected her to do such a reckless thing. Maybe she always did such reckless things.

Following his co-leader, Arthur stepped into the portal as well. One by one the group members jumped in with weapons or grimoires ready for battle. All except Jay had entered.

"I would be a fool to follow them in there. Even if I may not know the way back, it is definitely better than entering that portal."

As he turned to head the way they came, Jay noticed a horde of undead beast blocking the exit. Mega Alces, foxes, and other beast with missing limbs, skin, eyes and even mouths stood there watching him.

"What the fu-" he whispered before they charged forth.

Wasting no time, he jumped into the portal which was the last thing he had wanted to do. If the beast were to follow, he would be in serious trouble as he was unable to take that many on at once.

Through the portal, a cold feeling connected with his body.

He felt dizzy, almost extremely nauseating. His head hurt, his eyes watered, and he felt like throwing up. He was falling downwards from the air.

Thud

He hit the ground.