I hate red-colored dungeons.
They weren't just about killing monsters. No, red dungeons always came with strings attached quests in symbolism hidden, crimes centuries old wrapped up in threads of fate. And the thing that really sucked? The system never told you about the quest.
You had to discover it on your own.
And this one… this one stank of a god's trap.
I sat in the shaman's hut alone, meditating. He'd given me a space; still guarded, of course, but private. I'd earned his curiosity. That was good enough for now.
[You have entered: Dhurn-Grak : Forgotten Cradle of Beasts]
[Dungeon Grade: Red]
[Quest Status: Undiscovered]
Even the damn system was cryptic.
I closed my eyes and opened my senses. Extending my magical sense into the leyline sores that surrounded the village. A hum of tainted energy pulsed beneath the ground.
But deeper… deeper still… something was draining the land.
Not rot, not decay. Something living, something old.
And something familiar.
---
Later in the evening, I walked the edges of the village, pretending to admire the stars.
I wasn't alone.
"Your gait is as if the forest speaks to you," the shaman stated, stepping out of the darkness. His eyes glowed softly. "And what does it tell you?"
I stood before him.
"It screams, and it begs," I stated.
He did not flinch. "Go on."
I pointed towards the trees along the ridge. "That used to be the territory of the guardian, didn't it? The one who was killed, they say. The favorite of the beast-god. The guardian of your people."
The shaman nodded warily. "The Guardian of the Great Forest. Slain since centuries past. Some said at human hands. Some said it was betrayal."
I fixed him with a direct stare. "If I suppose it was not the humans?"
He tensed, mana encircling his staff.
"Speak plainly."
I stepped closer, my aura pulsing just lightly; showing strength, not menace.
"I tested the roots of memory. The springs of life beneath your soil. Some one has been draining them. Not just life force, but destiny. The threads of fate tied to your people. Villages don't just die from illness and raiding. They're being drained for something bigger."
The shaman's teeth clenched.
I went on.
"And I traced it."
A silence.
"To whom?"
I looked him directly in the face.
"Your ancestor, the original shaman. The one whose name is never spoken."
His fist tightened around his staff. "Impossible. He awoke and returned to the beast god."
I moved my head in slow denial. "No. He's still here. But he's changed now. He's burning the orc lineage as fuel. Every birth, every death, every ceremony. It all powers his climb to godhood. Artificial divinity built on stolen destiny."
The aura of the shaman burst.
The earth trembled beneath his feet, runes burning where he placed his feet on the earth.
But he never touched me.
Instead… he sank to his knees.
Bowed head.
Whispers leaving his lips in a language older even than this world.
A calling out. A plea.
The wind stilled. The stars extinguished.
And then something rose before my eyes.
[The Shaman of Dhurn-Grak calls forth the Angel of the Beast God.]
[A Divine Manifestation is imminent.]
[Invalid Cause will result in death.]
I reeled back. My heart slowed. My senses screamed.
This… was no trick of some tribe.
He had godly access.
The air grew thick with golden pressure.
And from a line of moonlight falling on the ground, something began to form.
Not a monster, not a beast but an angel.
Obsidian and ivory feathers. A body that seemed to radiate primal law. And eyes which are cold, unreadable, older than this world.
The angel spoke, its voice a harmony of growls and hymns.
"Who speaks the name of the Betrayer?"
The shaman did not speak.
He spoke to me instead.
"Was it this human?"
"No," I said in a steady voice. "It was the forest."
The angel spat at me, and for an instant. I thought it would smite me in that instant.
But then, it looked past me. Into the accursed land.
And wept just a single tear. But enough.
"Truth has been buried long enough," it said. "The First Shaman betrayed the Guardian. And his spirit still devours your kind."
I faced the orc shaman. "The question now," I announced, "Is what you'll do about it."