They slowed near the edge of the dunes as the last echoes of battle faded. For a brief mont, the desert fell quiet except the sound of their breathing.
Erend turned first. His gaze moved from Aesa to Eccar, sharp with concern.
"Both of you still able to go?" he asked.
Aesa nodded even though her fingers trembled faintly before she clenched them into a fist.
"I'm fine," she said, forcing control back into her tone. "It hurts, but I won't lose myself again. Besides, we need to keep moving to kill this source of corruption."
Eccar exhaled slowly. "I can move. That's enough." he replied.
Erend studied them for another heartbeat, then nodded. He didn't press further. He knew that his words would only make their reopened wounds felt worse.
He stepped toward the black door rising from the sand, its surface swallowing light. Without hesitation, he placed his hand against it and pushed.
The door opened.
They crossed into Level 56.
The heat and dunes remained, stretching endlessly beneath the sa dead sky. But sothing was wrong.
There were ruins standing in front of them now.
Broken stone walls, crumbling towers, and the silhouettes of castles and cities half-buried by sand could be seen.
Erend stopped short. His brow furrowed.
"That shouldn't be here," he said slowly. "I've never seen settlents inside this Dungeon World."
Eccar's expression tightened as he scanned the ruins.
"You're right. We've been to Dungeon Worlds before. This doesn't exist on any level I've been through."
Aesa felt a chill crawl up her spine.
"So, sothing that doesn't belong appearing this clearly…" she murmured. "It can't be good."
The sand ahead shifted.
Figures dragged themselves free from beneath the dunes.
They were human, once.
Bodies fused together in grotesque knots, multiple torsos bound by curse-wrapped bandages, faces pressed into one another in frozen scream. Their mouths opened as one, chanting in broken voices.
Curses detonated through the air.
Pain struck them instantly. Hexes crawled over their bodies, seeping past skin and scale.
"Argh!"
Erend staggered half a step. Aesa hissed. Eccar felt his limbs grow heavy.
"Scales!" Erend barked.
Dragon Scales surged over them in flashes of red-black, blue-white, and stone-dark armor.
The curses struck again.
This ti they managed to block most of it, but barely.
The impact was still painful. The hexes still gnawed at them, slipping through cracks that had never happened before on their sturdy scales.
Erend grimaced. "Even our scales are weak from the attack of the monsters at this level."
The fused mummies advanced, chanting louder.
]]]
They slowed near the edge of the dunes as the last echoes of battle faded. For a brief mont, the desert fell quiet except the sound of their breathing.
Erend turned first. His gaze moved from Aesa to Eccar, sharp with concern.
"Both of you still able to go?" he asked.
Aesa nodded even though her fingers trembled faintly before she clenched them into a fist.
"I'm fine," she said, forcing control back into her tone. "It hurts, but I won't lose myself again. Besides, we need to keep moving to kill this source of corruption."
Eccar exhaled slowly. "I can move. That's enough." he replied.
Erend studied them for another heartbeat, then nodded. He didn't press further. He knew that his words would only make their reopened wounds felt worse.
He stepped toward the black door rising from the sand, its surface swallowing light. Without hesitation, he placed his hand against it and pushed.
The door opened.
They crossed into Level 56.
The heat and dunes remained, stretching endlessly beneath the sa dead sky. But sothing was wrong.
There were ruins standing in front of them now.
Broken stone walls, crumbling towers, and the silhouettes of castles and cities half-buried by sand could be seen.
Erend stopped short. His brow furrowed.
"That shouldn't be here," he said slowly. "I've never seen settlents inside this Dungeon World."
Eccar's expression tightened as he scanned the ruins.
"You're right. We've been to Dungeon Worlds before. This doesn't exist on any level I've been through."
Aesa felt a chill crawl up her spine.
"So, sothing that doesn't belong appearing this clearly…" she murmured. "It can't be good."
The sand ahead shifted.
Figures dragged themselves free from beneath the dunes.
They were human, once.
Bodies fused together in grotesque knots, multiple torsos bound by curse-wrapped bandages, faces pressed into one another in frozen scream. Their mouths opened as one, chanting in broken voices.
Curses detonated through the air.
Pain struck them instantly. Hexes crawled over their bodies, seeping past skin and scale.
"Argh!"
Erend staggered half a step. Aesa hissed. Eccar felt his limbs grow heavy.
"Scales!" Erend barked.
Dragon Scales surged over them in flashes of red-black, blue-white, and stone-dark armor.
The curses struck again.
This ti they managed to block most of it, but barely.
The impact was still painful. The hexes still gnawed at them, slipping through cracks that had never happened before on their sturdy scales.
Erend grimaced. "Even our scales are weak from the attack of the monsters at this level."
The fused mummies advanced while chanting louder.
"These are different kinds of monsters!" Erend shouted over the chanting. "These bastards can attack through words alone!"
Aesa grimaced as another hex scraped across her scales. "I have a suggestion," she said through clenched teeth.
Erend glanced at her. "What?"
"Kill them all. Quickly."
He understood what she ant imdiately. It was a brutal solution, one that relied entirely on overwhelming force. Only Dragonborn could even consider it. Anyone else would have been drowned in curses long before closing the distance.
Erend hesitated. The pressure gnawed at him. He knew now what uncontrolled exertion did to the mind in this place. It will hurt them.
He had just seen it tear into Aesa and Eccar, dragging their worst mories to the surface. Unleashing everything now might push them past what they could endure.
But the chanting grew louder. The ruins pulsed with curse sigils. The air itself began to feel hostile.
There was no other choice.
"Okay. We will end this fast," Erend said firmly. "Don't hold back, but don't lose yourselves."
Aesa nodded. "I already know that."
They moved as one.
Lightning and fire erupted from Erend, tearing through fused bodies and igniting ruined buildings as stone collapsed into molten rubble. Thunder rolled across the dunes as he burned paths through the chanting mass.
Eccar slamd his foot down and the earth answered violently. Spikes impaled clustered mummies, sand swallowed the others whole, and massive boulders crushed chanting bodies into silence.
Aesa spread her frost outward in a sweeping wave. Ice devoured the ground, climbed their twisted forms, and froze them solid before she shattered them with precise and rciless force.
The ruins echoed with destruction as curses died down, buried beneath raw Dragonborn power.
—
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