Save That Dungeon!

In a land where magic and swords are the weapons of choice and dungeons dot the landscape, A young man prepares for an Adventurer. Humans struggle to conquer the strange structures known as dungeons for fame and glory in this world.

Men and women enter the dungeons to kill the monsters that are spawned within, and it has been like that since records were kept. Monsters are vicious beasts, and humans have made it their goal to eliminate them.

Things have always been like this, but there is a change in the winds. One person's heart could change the entire world, but nothing is ever that easy.

This story starts in a village three hours north of the Capital, far up in the mountains of Borath. There are numerous low-level dungeons in these mountains, making it a hotspot for Adventurers that are just starting out.

In the Village of Bora, a young man, Yren, freshly turned eighteen, is preparing for his first trip inside a dungeon. Not all choose to be Adventurers, but all children must finish training before receiving their Dungeon certification as Adventurers.

"Siggy! I passed!" Yren called out his friend, Siegfried, as he ran out of the school to meet him.

Yren was almost six feet tall with short brown hair that had a tendency to do what it chose, but the boy was in good shape. Yren had dreamed of entering the dungeon from a young age, just like his father and grandfather before.

"Hey! That's great to hear! This means that we will get to actually see the inside of a dungeon!" Siegfried cheered.

Siegfried was a bit taller than Yren but had more defined muscles. His blond hair was also the eye of many of the girls in town, and there were a few that were pursuing Siegfried.

The same could not be said for Yren, but this was no concern of his. Yren knew that he was strong and that, in time, women would flock to him as well.

What other goal should an Adventurer have? Become stronger to find a beautiful woman and riches to live a full life!

Yren clenched his fist in front of himself with a large grin. All of the training he had done would finally be put to use.

"Yeah, I hope dad is excited, but I don't know," Yren said as the two young men started to walk.

Yren's father had been a long-time dungeon explorer, but he had stopped going as often exploring dungeons just before Yren was born. His father never talked about fighting monsters or the glory he had obtained but always supported his son's dreams.

"Come on, Yren! Your old man is going to be ecstatic when he sees the score you got! I thought that I had been training hard, but you made it to the top of the rankings!" Siegfried told him with a slap on the back.

Yren was about to argue and say that he wasn't that good, but both boys stopped as they reached the town's guildhall. Both of them had dreamed of the day that they would be walking through the doors as newly minted Adventurers.

There were many jobs in this world, but none were like an Adventurer. The chance to fight the vile monsters of the dungeons, get stronger and find a wife that would support you.

These were things an Adventurer strove for, but the thing that every man or woman wanted the most was the power at the depths. It is told that every dungeon has a core, and reaching it would grant you special items and weapons.

"Tomorrow will be our first day, Yren! We will get our chance to walk through those doors just like so many before us! I wonder what it will really be like inside of the dungeons?! I know there will be monsters, but what kind do you think we will face?!" Siegfried asked Yren with excitement as they stood in the middle of the road, looking up into their future.

"I don't really know, but we should both get back home. We both need to be up early to get here for our certificates," Yren told Siegfreid, and his friend nodded, sticking out his hand to Yren.

"You and I, together! We will take on every dungeon this world has to offer!" Siegfried declared to Yren, making the other boy smile as he took his friend's hand.

The two of them had played together as kids, and Yren was almost as close to Siegfried's parents as his own father. For some reason, both fathers didn't get along but had been friends long before either of their children had been born.

Something had happened back then, but Tybrus, Yren's father, never talked about it. Yren had even asked him numerous times, but his father had always said that it was unimportant.

Yren respected his father above all and would always drop it as asked. Whatever had happened had placed a rift between the two men, but they were still civil with each other.

"Yeah! Tomorrow is the first day of our new lives!" Yren said with excitement as both boys started to run towards their homes.

The boys were both the best of friends, but there was something that one didn't know about the other. A secret held tight to his father's heart since Yren was born.

It was a secret so deep that it had already destroyed one friendship and was on track to ruin another. There were about to be some changes in this world, but there was no way to say if they would be for the good or worse.

Humans knew very little of the dungeons or their purpose in this world, but one person would change all of that. The fire was coming, and it could destroy everything and break all preconceived ideas Yren had.

Would this fire consume their friendship? Or would they become forged by it?

Only time would tell for our brave young Adventurer.