Chp.1, What the Hell is Going on?

A faint and rhythmic whistling sound could be heard up ahead as a small group of humanoids carefully made their way through the dark and damp natural cavern.

"Oy', don't ya' reckon its been too quiet up til now?" A rather stocky dwarf barked out while the group slowed to a halt. The cavern that they were exploring was supposed to house a newly discovered dungeon, but after an hour of exploring they had yet to find anything.

A blond elf made her way over to stand in front of him. She was wearing form fitting leather armor, that while showing off her curves, was obviously meant for battle - overlapping hardened leather was used as gussets around her elbows and waist to allow ease of movement without sacrificing protection. "While I agree with smelly over there -"

"Hey!" The dwarf exclaimed as he interrupted her, his mouth curling into a bit of a smirk. The other two in the group chuckled a bit at his expense.

The elf's ears seemed almost to perk up as she pointed in the direction of the whistling sound they had been following for the last half an hour.

"- there is clearly something in here."

After she spoke she knelt down and layed her palm flat against the cold stone floor. " we have been traveling down, slightly, this whole time, so the chances of it just being wind is small." She then let out a sigh as she continued, " honestly, the closer we get the more it sounds like something snoring."

That last part seemed to get the attention of the other two. "So whatever it is, is asleep?"

"Hold on! Are you telling me that we were hearing snoring this whole time?" The two humans showed opposite reactions to the elf's statement.

Both male, the two humans were dressed completely differently. The first one to speak up was wearing a mix of leather and chainmail, with a short bow in hand. Despite the smirk and relaxed look on his face, he seemed to be the one most on edge the whole time.

The last member of their group was wearing an elaborate looking robe, and held a plain looking staff in his right hand, that was capped with an almost clear, green stone. He was the one that shouted almost in a panic, at the thought of the whistling sound being something snoring. "What could be big enough for us to hear it so far away?"

The dwarf raised an eyebrow at the humans question. While he had a valid point, the whistling sound hadn't actually gotten much louder, if any at all, since they first started hearing it. They had originally thought that the rumor of this cave being a new dungeon was bogus, and were about to give up - but that was until they discovered that sound.

They had been searching every pathway they could fit in, in hopes of either discovering the real entrance to the dungeon they were searching for, or atleast the source of the whistling sound.

The elf shook her head as she stood back up, biting her lip. She seemed like she was mulling over something for a moment before speaking up again. "Balken, you're contracted with an earth spirit, have they not noticed anything at all?"

The dwarf look at her for a moment before he closed his eyes. He seemed to be concentrating on something before his whole body started to give off a soft green glow. He was the only one in the group that wasn't wearing armor or robes. Rather, he was instead covered entirely with furs, his head and face completely bald. "Nothing seems out of place. Actually... wait"

The dwarfs entire demeanor seemed to change almost instantly. His eyes shot open as the green light faded, and he looked a little scared. "The spirits... they stopped answering me."

The other three exchanged glances before the robe wearing human spoke up. "Balken only has a pact with a greater spirit, so if there's a higher earth spirit present that would explain the way the spirits are acting... still..." while he was speaking he seemed to almost zone out, but the others just stayed quiet and watched him, seemingly out of habit. "But, its not just the earth spirits that are acting funny. The air and water spirits present are acting the same way. How odd..."

Those that made contracts with spirits were no doubt stronger than others with those elements, but they were not omnipotent, even as far as just spirits were concerned. They could generally communicate with local spirits of the same type, but even then it was usually only a little helpful, at best.

After resting for a moment and discussing their current predicament they started moving again. This time they decided to split up, Balken and the robe wearing human separating, while the elf and the remaining human stayed together.

---

Alex worked a part time job in the summer while he attended university during the spring and fall. He always felt like he was just coasting through life, never really moving in the direction of his choice, but rather feeling himself falling into a mold that life had picked out for him.

It was a particularly boring day at the gas station he was working for, which was probably due to the torrential downpour occurring at the moment.

Although boring, it was peaceful in a way, but then again Alex had always enjoyed rainy days, so he was a bit biased. The sound of a bell ringing drew his attention to the entrance.

He was about to greet them, as usual, when what he thought to be a customer leveled a gun off with his face. He could feel his entire body was on edge as his hands flew instinctively straight up.

"Give me all the money in the register! Now!" The man stood in front of Alex, on the other side of the counter, dressed in all black, wearing a hockey mask like the one from that horror movie.

Clearly shaking in fear, Alex slowly reached over to the register's touch screen and tapped on the 'no sale' button, causing the register drawer to open up. Whether it was the beeping sound the register made when he tapped the screen or something else that spooked the robber, Alex would never know.

All he knew for sure was that suddenly everything went black, as everything started feeling fuzzy.

But, for some reason, his thoughts didn't stop. "What the hell is going on? Why can't I see anything? Why can't I feel anything?" His head was racing as he tried to piece together his situation, but he ended up giving up in the end.

Nothing changed for what felt like an eternity, and he was pretty sure he was starting to lose his grip on reality, or atleast he thought he was. As there was no sound or anything else for that matter, he couldn't even be sure about that.

Time passed like this, nothing ever changing, until a small light appeared in the distance. Starting out almost like the light from a lone star in the night sky, it grew brighter and brighter, as well as getting warmer, until it was almost like standing next to a raging bonfire.

But it didnt stop there. The temperature continued to rise higher and higher, until all Alex could feel was pain from the unbearable heat that was assaulting him non stop.

Wanting to scream in pain, but not being able to was a new kind of agony that he had never conceived of. With no idea where he was, or what was happening to him, he could only reason that he must be in hell.

The light never dulled but the pain lessened with time, although he was pretty sure he was only getting used to it. But then, something new happened.

He felt a sharp stabbing pain... somewhere... out of habit, almost like slapping at a mosquito bite, he felt himself move for the first time since before his world went black. He could also feel himself hit something, and hard.

Again, something new happened. He could now see again. Feeling like he was suddenly woken from a deep slumber, he sat bolt upright, checking out his surroundings.

His eyes opened wide in confusion, as he was now staring at the second most confusing thing he had ever seen in his life.

---

After the four split up another hour passed before they reconvened where they split up. The pair returned first, followed shortly by the dwarf.

They had communicated using a spell that the robe wearing human had imbued them all with, before ever setting foot inside the would be dungeon.

He had contacted them, asking them all to meet up again, but despite that, he still hadn't returned yet.

Starting to feel a little worried, the three of them started walking down the path that he had originally left down.

Just as they were starting to move that way they noticed him round the corner up ahead, almost running. "Hurry up and follow me, I found something!"

Just like that he spun around and started running off back the way he came. Exchanging glances and shrugs between the three of them, they set off to follow him, catching up to him rather quickly.

The robe he was wearing marked him as a magus, and particularly marked him as a trained magus, unlike Balken who learned on his own. Few magus were capable of learning magic on their own, but as he was a contracted magus, it more than made up for it.

After taking a few winding turns down the cavern path, he suddenly came to a stop in what seemed like a random spot. Turning to face the wall of the narrow pathway they were trudging down, and suddenly pointed at it before turning his head to look at the others, who had confused looks on their faces.

"Right here!" He exclaimed, pointing at the wall again, this time with an almost crazed look in his eyes.

It wasn't much longer before they all shared the same crazed look. Greed was a powerful thing, and a new dungeon was bound to be full of untapped riches.

Next, the other three walked up beside the robed human and laid their palms against the wall the robed magus was pointing at before.

"Alright Legus, are you ready for this?" The elf asked as she looked the man in the robes in his eyes.

"Lets!" After he placed his hand flat against the wall as well, a round doorway formed of light appeared on the wall, and the whistling sound grew louder, but now steady.

While the reason for four people, minimum, being needed to open the doorway of a dungeon was still unknown, it was often credited to the gods. But, because of this, groups of people titled adventures often traveled in groups of four.

After the last of them crossed through the door of light, it immediately shut again, alarming each of them. As far as they knew and had experienced, while the door would remain closed on the other side until they either left or died within the dungeon, the door on their side was supposed to remain open.

"Legus, what the hell is happening?" The jumpy bow wielding human asked, almost shouting.

But, the robed magus looked just as confused as he did. Seeing that he wasn't going to get answer from him he looked over to Balken and repeated his question.

"I don't know, but then again we have yet to learn the laws of this dungeon." The stocky mass of furs moved over to where the door was as he replied, placing his hand against it, rubbing the spot he touched. He then turned around and shrugged as he continued, "maybe its a new law that no one has recorded before."

The elf then stepped in the middle of everyone before speaking. "Let's hope that's all it is. But, standing around here making conjectures isn't getting us anywhere. For now, let's keep going, and find the first boss. We should be able to take the portal from there back to the entrance."

Everyone nodded in agreement, albeit grimly. The bow wielding human took point with the two magi in the middle with the elf taking up the rear.

They took the only path leaving the cavern they appeared in. All of the rock they could see looked natural and unworked, but after walking down the path for another ten minutes, the natural cavern changed to worked and crafted stone, carved to look like brickwork.

The path headed straight for another ten minutes before widening enough for them each to stand side by side, ending with a large red metal door.

"What the hell is the last boss room doing this close to the entrance?" Both the elf and Balken shouted at the same time. Nothing about this dungeon made any sense to them.

Before they could say anything else, the red door opened on its own, revealing a single massive vaulted room, the center of the ceiling reaching as high as two hundred feet.

But their eyes were all drawn to one source, leaving them too focused to notice the gold statues that lined the walls all the way around the room,with precious gems socketed into each of their eyes.

They could only see the large solid glossy black figure splayed out unceremoniously on the floor in the very center of the room.

Each of its long skeletal like arms ending in five digits, three talon like fingers and two thumb like digits, the second being where a human's pinky would normally be. Two long skeletal legs ended in three talons, with a fourth dewclaw like digit.

Its four black bat-like wings each extended out about fifteen, two from around the shoulder blades, the other two from around the center of its back.

Legus, the trained magus stared in abject horror, as he almost forgot to breath. "What the hell is an Arch Duke doing in a dungeon?"

His words came out like a whisper, the terror clear in his shaky voice. Neither of the other three seemed to know what an Arch Duke was, but they clearly recognized the creature as a higher devil. All devils were seen as tricky foes, but not a lot was openly disclosed about higher devils to the regular populace, adventurers included.

But Legus had received a thorough education while he was attending the the magus college back in Rowan, the capital of the empire they each resided in.

Arch Dukes' were seen as the Demon Kings most trusted followers, their strength being second only to the Demon King themselves. The fear he was feeling was perfectly understandable.

"Wait, its already wounded!" The elf pointed in its direction, drawing everyone's attention to the pool of, almost glowing, bright red blood beneath it.

Almost on queue, all of their faces changed to that of glee, even Legus'. The elf, followed closely by Balken the dwarf, moved slowly and carefully towards the wounded devil. The bow wielding human and Legus stayed behind them, but moved forward as well, muttering something in another language as he moved. His staff's green stone glowing slightly brighter as a light formed in its center.

Each of them exchanged lookes before Legus' spell was finished, wreathing all of them in a soft golden light. That seemed to be the signal for each of them to start their attack.

The archer loosed two arrows so quickly they almost seemed to be fired simultaneously, as Balken stomped on the ground, causing a stone spike to form and jut upward, into the creatures abdomen.

The Elf followed up with multiple throwing knives, each of which glowing a different color, one for each of the four elements she was capable of infusing - fire, ice, lightning, and light.

Each of the attacks were expertly performed, leaving no room for even a conscious foe to dodge.

The earth spike that Balken summoned ceased the moment its tip made contact with the devils stomach, severing his connection with his spell.

Both of the arrows, and three of the throwing knives simply bounced off of the creature, while the one charged with the light element stabbed hilt deep into the unmoving devils side.

---

Words formed in thin air in front of Alex, followed by borders, forming what looked like message pop-up in a game. On it, spelled out in English was '437exp earned for killing Lilah Moriam'.

"What the hell?"

---

The seemingly unconscious devil before them moved from where it was, appearing where the elf was standing immediately prior, having crossed the sixty feet seperating them seemingly instantly.

Its right arm swiped into her, with a back handed motion, sending her flying across the room, breaking her body against the solid stone wall near the rooms entrance.

The three remaining members of the group looked back and forth from the devil to her corpse, each of her limbs now bent in strange places.

Their earlier fear now rose to the surface, each of them now mimicking Legus' face from when he first recognized the Arch Duke, that was now standing menacingly before them.

It seemed to be trying to speak to them, but neither of them could understand it. First it muttered something too quiet for them to hear, then it shouted something as it looked down at its right hand, its eyes opened wide, and burning with the hatred all devils were known to harbor for the earthly races.

---

Alex shouted in terror, eyes wide open in complete shock as it looked at his grotesque skeletal hand. Exclaiming again each time he looked at his new, deformed, limbs, finally ending with appreciative curiosity as he noticed his wings - gross body or not, having wings was something he believed anyone would find kind of cool.

The entire time he examined himself he never noticed his terrified audience, as they simply looked on, too scared to actually move.

Balken the druid, Legus the Magus, Lilah the rogue and Mark the warrior were a fairly well known group of adventurers within the empire, each of them being hailed as A rank adventurers.

Neither of them was a slouch in their respective fields, and each of them understood their current situation. Vastly out powered by the devil before them, and seemingly no exit to speak of, they begrudgingly accepted their coming deaths. But, neither of them was the type to die begging.

Catching Alex off guard the three of them started attacking at the same time, causing his new body to move on its own. Sickened and terrified by the gory scene playing out in front of him, Alex watched as he skewered, ripped and smashed the remaining three adventurers, his body never hesitating.

He had no idea how or why he was doing what he was, or why they were attacking him in the first place. All he knew was that he was a whirlwind of death, and he couldn't do anything about it.

After the scene played itself out, Alex fell to his hands and knees, his wings folded up and draping over him like a large cape. He wanted to vomit, but nothing came out. He wanted to cry, but all that came out was a terrifying roar.

After giving up on atleast displaying the emotions welling up inside of him, Alex moved over to a wall, where he sat down and leaned back. In front of him hovered three messages like the one from before, followed by a fourth, golden text filled window. " Congratulations, you have reached the required @,*&<,%$& exp needed to evolve. Would you like to accept?"

<<YES>> <<NO>>