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The Human From a Dungeon 110
🕑 Added 2025-06-30 10:45:28 +0000 UTCAuthor's Note - I have made the switch to Microsoft Word and am still trying to get it figured out. This switch happened in the middle of this chapter, so if there's anything weird about the formatting please feel free to point it out to me in the comments. :)
Chapter 110
Agurno
Adventurer Level: 152
Orc – Kirkenian
I stared at the boy turned man from a past that I thought I'd left behind. He was trying desperately to recover from my kick to his gut, which had been a little higher than intended. His gasps for air reminded me of how close he'd come to being split in two. If it hadn't been for a very timely warning from Gramr, his crouch wouldn't have been nearly fast enough.
'You should have let him hit you some more,' Gramr said. 'You deserve it.'
Ignoring my biggest critic, I looked at the people that Nash had been with and recognized Yulk, as well. Of the two of them, Yulk had undergone the most drastic change. His dark, messy hair had vanished, his spine had an unnatural curve to it, but his face and eyes remained just as they had all those years ago. Yulk and his brother had become fast friends with my daughter, so much so that people would always joke that Nash and Nima would make a good couple. Yulk stood and took a step forward.
'It would appear that more justified suffering is on the way.'
"Look, I get it," I sighed. "We're in an emotionally charged situation. But come on, Yulk, you were always the level-headed one."
"I still am," Yulk smiled and gestured at me with both hands. "Tlob Srolmi Tsac!"
Even with all of my relentless fighting and training, I barely managed to trigger my various resistance skills before the lightning hit me. Despite those resistances, the spell brought me down to one knee. Once my muscles stopped their brutal spasms, I glared angrily at the younger Alta brother.
Surprisingly, he had fallen to both knees with intense pain apparent on his face. Then the smell of burnt hair hit my nostrils. I examined my torso and found a bald patch, where the spell had hit me. It finally occurred to me that even with my resistances, the spell had hurt. A lightning spell that could pierce my resistances and had a kickback on the caster...
"Did you just use Imlor's fucking bolt on me?" I demanded angrily.
Before Yulk could answer, the lich and the other thing stepped between us. At first glance I had believed it to be an elf, but closer examination revealed that the only real similarity this thing had with elves was skin color. Its ears were rounded, its hair was oily, its eyes were too close together, its nose wasn't pointed enough, and its chin was too round. I stared down the pair of monsters.
The elf-like creature put an ever-so-slightly trembling hand on its sword, but it didn't draw its blade. The stance it chose wasn't a bad one, allowing its draw to become a slash, but its sword wasn't curved enough for that technique to be completely effective. This was someone still learning swordsmanship who nearly mastered the basics.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me and realized that the lich had cast a healing spell. My mind had preemptively connected the dots and realized that the lich was Larie VysImiro, son of Imlor the Grand. We hadn't met before, but I'd heard a lot about him, his curse, and his healing talents. He was also wary of me, but I gathered that from his body language. His expressionless, skeletal face didn't show it.
"Fucking CUNT," Nash shouted.
I sighed as his arm wrapped around my neck. Then I stood, taking him off the ground. His arm squeezed and squeezed, presumably with all his might, but the muscles in my neck wouldn't allow my airflow or circulation to be cut off. I flicked at a nerve in his elbow, which caused him to lose his grip and crash to the ground.
"Look, boys... I get it," I said. "You're mad at me because you care about Nima, but think this through. Do you thin-"
Nash interrupted me by kicking me in the calf. Without even looking, I kicked him in the ass and sent him flying a foot or two.
"Do you think I'm really gonna sit around and let you beat on me?" I asked. "Eventually I'm gonna get tired of your shit and then one of us is gonna have to kill the other. Now as far as I know, Nima might've grown up to be heartless enough not to care about that. But knowing her mom, I doubt it."
"You don't get to talk about her!" Nash shouted between wheezes. Larie walked over to him and began healing him again.
"The fuck I don't," I growled. "I may have left her and her mother, but I'll be damned if I didn't stick around a whole hells of a lot longer than my dad did for me."
"Wh-what?"
"Yeah, being big, smart, and abandoning children is kind of a family tradition, kid. Ulurmak got to be raised in the capital because dad knew he was gonna take over as High Chief. I got raised by my mom out in the boonies 'cause he figured I wasn't suited to a fuckin' desk job. Fact is that I was in my kid's lives a lot longer than he was in mine, and you aren't gonna lay there and tell me that isn't a win."
'That is the weakest, most self-pitying non-apology I've ever heard,' Gramr said.
"Are you all quite done?" Incandis asked angrily.
"No, I'm not," I shot back. "What the fuck is that thing?"
I gestured my head at the creature accompanying the Alta boys. Its eyebrows shot up as if it were surprised by my sudden attention.
"Uh... I-I'm a human," it said.
I remembered stories from various taverns about a creature found in a dungeon called a human, and about how my brother seemed to have a fondness for it. I glanced at Yulk, who began to explain in further detail. Nash had been the one that found it, and they were trying to return it from wherever it had come from. The Alta boys always did have big hearts.
"Yes, yes, and now they appear before us to request information on how to travel the vast distances through time and space safely to get him home," Floris sighed. "A request that YOU are currently interrupting, Agurno. We congratulate you on a job well done, but we can discuss payment once we are finished here."
"Or we can discuss payment now," I said, thinking for a moment. "I'm fairly certain that you are out of relics that would be of use to me. Gold doesn't have much use, either, since I already have more of it than I or any of my descendants could possibly spend without founding a nation. My guess is that you are going to reward me with a favor. You're probably going to ask a favor of them, as well."
"What business is it of yours?" Incandis demanded.
"I've always been curious about time travel," I grinned. "Teleportation would be handy knowledge, as well. So how about I cash in my favor and you tell me how the human here is going to get back home? They can stay, of course. My treat."
The entire court went nervously silent and still, which wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence during my visits. Nash and Yulk watched me suspiciously, probably trying to figure out if I was messing with them or not. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't.
There were hundreds of beings that considered me a hero, completely beyond reproach. I could murder someone in cold blood, and they would all assume I had acted in their best interests. The sudden reminder that I wasn't much better than my father had stung in a deep way. But this knowledge, this thing they would have to pay dearly for, was as easy for me to obtain as breathing.
I smirked at the boys while the Queens conferred. Nash seemed dumbfounded, but Yulk glared at me as if he knew exactly why I was 'helping' them. He always was the smart one.
"Against our better judgment, we have decided to accept this... For lack of a better word, bargain," Aqueous announced. "We will tell you what they wanted to know with them present, without requesting any further payment."
I nodded, sheathing Gramr. The wound on Incandis' arm sizzled as it tried to close. Even the Queens were vulnerable to iron, though much less so than other wylder.
I'd always wondered what it would be like to fight all four of them at once. Not a fight that I'd walk away from unscathed, but it would certainly be a thrill. No matter how many insults I heaped upon them, though, they refused to take the bait.
"Manipulation of space is simple," Luminous began with a yawn. "Trivial, in fact. Take a thing and put it over there. Fleshy ones do this with their own bodies without even thinking about it. Those without flesh have to work harder at it, and therefore have much more knowledge about the intricacies of the process. Getting the human 'home' by mundane means would be entirely possible."
"Time is another matter entirely," Floris interjected. "Events occur as a result of cause and effect. To 'travel through time' one would have to undo said cause and effect. One can easily alter the flow of cause and effect, but changing it after the fact would be an impossible feat for any that are under its influence."
"Like trying to dig through a mountain whilst buried beneath it," Incandis added.
"What do you mean I can get home by mundane means?" the human asked.
"We did not permit you to as-"
"I would like that question to be answered," I interrupted.
Incandis glared at me while the other Queens shared nervous looks with one another.
"The answer to that question should be obvious, especially to the human," Aqueous said. "Unless the higher ones are intentionally keeping it hidden."
"What do they have to do with anything?" I asked.
"The human is a touched," Incandis replied.
I took a moment to study the poor thing. There was still a certain naivety in his eyes that came with youth and inexperience. A boy, then.
Calling the higher ones evil would be wrong. Callous and uncaring are much better descriptors. When my father was High Chief, a cult led by a 'touched' elf sprang up in one of the kingdoms to the south.
This cult usurped a portion of that kingdom and began a theocratic regime that worshiped the higher ones. Under that elf's influence, the new nation invaded the United Chiefdoms in an attempt to expand their borders. My father responded in kind, and that territory is now known as Hirnis. The newly installed Great Chief discovered that it contained a mine, which allowed my father to viciously defend our borders from then on. The kingdom from which the cult formed protested this, but they were quickly destroyed and assimilated by their neighbors.
The touched elf and his followers believed that they were beloved by the higher ones. Perhaps they were, in a way, but they were still used as pawns to force resources to change hands. Such is the nature of the higher ones. Even fighting them plays right into their hands.
"So, what, he should ask them instead?" I demanded. "Do you fear the higher ones?"
Incandis looked like he was about to explode, but Aqueous held up a hand.
"Yes, we do... At the moment," she said. "That in and of itself is unusual and indicates that their influence is at play. You know as well as we do that if we were to try to answer that question and they didn't want us to, something would interfere. So, there isn't much point."
"Fine. How does the human get back to his family, then?"
"The higher ones might be able to do it," Incandis shrugged. "They're certainly more qualified than we are. But they sent him to us, instead."
"They wouldn't be able to accomplish this without manifesting themselves, which would create several issues," Aqueous said. "However, if the human were to go to them..."
"How's he supposed to do THAT?" I asked with a laugh. "Die? Or can one simply walk into the ethereal plane?"
"Dying obviously wouldn't help. Thankfully, yes, one can simply walk into the ethereal plane. Just not from here."
"From where?"
"The fair realm. The hells. Haven. Just as this plane has cracks that lead to those planes, those planes have cracks that lead to the ethereal plane and beyond. There may even be cracks to the ethereal plane here, but we've never encountered them."
"You see that, boys," I chuckled and turned to the Alta brothers. "You beg them for help, and they tell you to go to the hells."
"Yet, that does sound like the probable solution to this issue," Yulk sighed. "The question becomes how to enter these different planes."
"You simply must find a crack, widen it, and walk through," Floris said. "I would strongly suggest finding a crack to Haven. Both the fair realm and the hells are quite inhospitable to flesh."
"Would there be a favor that we could provide for guidance on how to find such a crack?"
"No, that giant lump of muscle there has done everything serious enough to warrant that information," Incandis shot me a glare. "You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, Yulk Alta. Use it, and you'll find the way on your own."
"I am unworthy of your praise."
"If that were true, we wouldn't have given it. The favor has been fulfilled, and our business has concluded. Leave."
I was half tempted to make the Queens force me out, mostly to test if I could best the previous technique they had used. But I could tell that Nash still had something to say. I had things to say, as well, so I followed them out. The moment the gate closed behind us, he turned to face me.
"Don't think that helping us will make me forgive you," he growled.
"Boy, I don't give a fuck about your forgiveness," I replied with a chuckle. "Hells, the only one who has any right to offer me forgiveness is Nima."
"What of her mother?" Yulk asked with venom in his tone.
"Oh, please... If there was anyone in that glorified outpost who knew me it was Urela. She was prepared, or else she wouldn't have sent back all the money I've sent them. Bet you've never heard her say anything bad about me, neither. Have you?"
The Alta boys paused and glanced at each other, as if suddenly realizing something.
"That's because she's wise enough to know that getting mad at the wind for blowing is pointless. She's got no forgiveness to offer me, because I did what was expected. I wasn't meant to be a father or a husband, and we both knew it. I think she might have just wanted to see how long I'd last."
"Why didn't you ever come back for Nima?" Nash demanded.
"Shit, that's the most complicated thing anybody's ever asked me," I laughed. "I don't know. Not really. I could go on about how being forced into a life of domestication was torture for someone like me. Or I could point out that I could never love my kids the way that they needed to be loved, and by removing myself from the picture their moms could find someone who could. Maybe I just couldn't handle the responsibility of having people waiting for me to come back while actively risking my life. But those are just platitudes, pretty words to polish a turd. My reasons don't matter. I didn't go back because I didn't want to, and I'm a shitty, selfish person."
"You can still go back, even just for a lit-"
"Careful, you're overstepping. Alurn has reached out to me a few times over the years to give me updates and such, and I've even replied. So Nima must know how to reach me, but she hasn't even tried. You know her better than I do, Nash. How would she feel if I were to suddenly reenter her life? Would it make her happy to know that the reason her dad left was because he didn't want to be a dad anymore? Would she appreciate YOU being the one to drag me back?"
The truth in my words struck him silent.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Alurn knows how to get in touch with me. If Nima ever wants to, she can."
"We're going to get married next year," he said softly.
"Congrats. I'm sure you'll make each other happy," I chuckled and turned away. "For what it's worth, you were a good kid. I'm glad it's you."
I stepped past them and smirked at all of the eyes pointed at the ground. The court crowd would normally eat up this kind of drama like it was their first meal of the week, but they knew of me. Each and every member of the crowd was pretending they were blind and deaf.
"Oh, and if you want you can tell her that I didn't leave because I hated her," I said, not looking back. "I left because I hated myself."
I waved over my shoulder as I did what I do best.
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! Very interesting to find more about Agurno, and about him as a father.
Noah
2 days after reading the chapter i realized that agurno easily survived the same spell that one tapped the Nahalim.
