The wormhole swallowed everyone. Stone. Fire. Ice. The smell of ash and unspoken lore that Rance couldn't wait to discover. His UI blurred for a moment as the dungeon loaded, then snapped back with the sterile clarity of a war room.
He felt it immediately—the tension. That hum behind his skull. That whisper of something watching back. Not the boss. Not the mobs.
Just a ruined city.
He glanced to his left. Wing's swords was uncharged. His movements too idle. He was waiting.
"This...is abandoned.", Yourwings whispered as he set his gaze on the ominous region.
Cragthorn gulped. The rest of his party which were in a fighting stance immediately relaxed. Usually there would be tons of enemies(also called as ads) that spawn in the first stage of a raid, and it has been a predictable pattern.
"Do...we have to find someone?", Lizzie whispered as she got off her now Lion-sized Caracal that was enlarged due to the potion she bought at the store, and quite frankly she was hesitant to do so in fear of it running away.
"No.", SoulSnacc replied as he opened his quest tab.
[Current Objective:???]
Rance didn't reply. His thumb hovered over his aggro-lock key. He could still lock onto someone in the far distance of the city. For a split second Cragthorn got a vision. The city turned into a complete battlefield, which bore of two sides fighting relentlessly, screaming.
A low whirr spread through his ears as Visage used his skill.
[Visage – Lv. 99 Seer– Guild: Lich Spire]
The air thinned.
He stood perfectly still, his gloved fingers raised to his temple, the Seer's sigil glowing like cold fire between his knuckles.
Cragthorn could hear Precognition (Tier II) activating. It always sounded like static from a broken down old T.V.
A faint ripple passed through the party UI.
[Passive Skill Activated: Memory Echo]
[ Warning: Temporal instability detected in region.]
Rance's breath caught. What followed next, gave him goosebumps.
The city trembled around them, just slightly—as if something ancient had shifted in its sleep.
"You saw it too, didn't you?", Visage said quietly, not looking at anyone.
"The blood. The walls."
"I saw... war," Cragthorn replied. "Like the whole population of the city killed itself by being corrupted."
"No. Not killed itself," Visage whispered. "It's still happening."
There was a pause.
And then a new ping hit their quest log:
[New Objective Unlocked: Decide the Outcome of the Curse.]
Lizzie frowned. "Wait, there's no dialogue? No cutscene? It's just...that?"
SoulSnacc laughed. "Typical devs. Dropping philosophical bullshit with no warning. Probably too lazy to code in the NPCs."
Cragthorn's eyes narrowed. "No. There were figures."
He motioned down the street—half in rubble, half in shadow.
"There's someone here."
"Mini-boss?" Lizzie guessed.
"Or bait," Visage said.
They passed through the crumbled gate and into silence. Not the coded silence of an area that was loading. This was the kind of silence that stuck to your skin and made you feel like someone was watching. Rance's skin itched as he took his fingers off the keyboard and scratched his elbow, feeling almost scared in his pitch black room.
Black dust drifted around, with a faint fog covering their feet. The fog pulsed in waves, matching their heartbeats. Everyone was waiting for an enemy to pop out and jumpscare them before it got obliterated into a pile of ash.
But that never happened
There was no-one to greet the party in the first stage of the Raid, except for abnormally large crows hanging by the tree branches that glared at them judgmentally. Far in the distance, three pillars stood tall in the middle of the area. If you looked at it, the pillars were smack right in the middle of an ancient Roman Bathhouse
"We should split—" Lizzie began.
"No.", Zedek cut through her off.
[Zedek– Lv. 121 Engineer– Guild: Lich Spire]
Visage, who had remained quiet, tilted his head slightly.
"I know splitting up seems like a good idea. Go the three separate routes, find out what mechanic the stage has, work around it and solve it..", he said as he felt his palm touch the cold pillar. Without a doubt in his mind he could sense that they had to meet some conditions in order for this pillar to light up.
"We're not speed-running. Should be more logical to stick together then clear each area.", Zedek stated and as a matter of fact everyone thought it was a sensible idea.