Chapter 59: The Ten Authorities

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: The Ten Authorities

The ten authorities had awakened. That was the only thought running through Arins head as the dungeon trembled. The stone ground beneath his feet and sent several members of the expedition sprawling. Dust rained down from the ceiling and the ancient blue and black crystals that lined the chamber flickered.

Arin instinctively reached for his sword.

He could feel them.

The ten of them.

They had awakened and were moving somewhere beneath the dungeon.

They were not ordinary monsters.

Their mana ran heavy with something else, something connected to the authority within Arins body.

Arene’s voice echoed in his head.

[All ten Dungeon Master Authorities are active.]

Arin swallowed.

"Can you tell what they are doing?"

There was a pause.

[Attempting to determine.]

The answer did little to put him at ease.

Eldran looked towards the floor.

"You said there were ten."

"Yes."

"And now?"

Arin looked towards the system window before him.

[Authority Remnant 01: ACTIVE.]

[Authority Remnant 02: ACTIVE.]

[Authority Remnant 03: ACTIVE.]

The list continued all the way to ten.

"They all woke up."

Ayan’s expression darkened.

"Then we should leave."

Everyone looked towards him.

Arin raised an eyebrow.

"You normally don’t say that."

"I normally do not need to."

Ayan’s gaze remained fixed upon the floor.

"Whatever is beneath us has awakened ten beings with Dungeon Master Authority. We do not know their condition, their strenght or their intentions. Remaining here without understanding them would be reckless."

Saira crossed her arms.

"You think we should run?"

"I think we should avoid walking willingly into something we cannot control."

Zarl, who had been exceptionally quiet in the wake of the disturbance, suddenly chuckled.

"That’s a sensible idea."

Garul stared at him.

"You are the last person who should be agreeing with him."

Zarl smiled.

"I can occasionally recognise a bad situation."

The dungeon shook again.

This time it was stronger.

A deep sound resonated from the stone floor from somewhere below them.

It was not a roar.

It almost sounded like something dragging a chain across the floor.

Arin’s Dungeon Sense stretched out into the ground.

The moment it reached the level of the lower chamber it was met with an onslaught of pain.

He gritted his teeth.

"Arin!"

Mira caught his arm.

"I’m fine."

He shook himself.

"Something changed."

"What?"

Arin closed his eyes and stretched his senses.

The darkness below the dungeon opened up in his mind to reveal corridors and chambers he had never seen before.

Ten different chambers, ten different concentrations of authority.

But something was wrong.

They did not feel the same.

One burned with violent anger, one was unstable, one was strangely calm, one was afraid, one was cold and calculating, one carried grief, one was laughing, one was completely accepting of their situation, one was unintelligent and had no higher thought process.

And the last one...

Arin stilled.

"What?"

Eldran stepped closer.

"What is wrong?"

Arin opened his eyes.

"One of them feels different."

Ayan immediately became attentive.

"How?"

"I don’t know."

Arin searched for the right words.

"The others feel like they’re reacting to me. That one..."

He looked towards the floor.

"It feels like it’s watching me."

Silence fell over the group.

Saira’s expression darkened.

"Can it see us?"

"I don’t know."

Arene suddenly spoke.

[Authority Remnant 01 is attempting to establish contact.]

Arin’s eyes widened.

"Contact?"

The system window changed.

[Foreign Dungeon Master Authority approaching.]

The ground beneath them cracked.

Everyone leapt back.

A pulse of black energy flowed across the ground before vanishing into the walls.

Then another.

And another.

Arin could feel something approaching the group.

Not towards them.

Towards him.

Ayan stepped in front of Arin.

"Stay behind me."

Arin gripped his sword.

"I don’t think it wants to attack."

"You cannot know that."

"I know."

Arin looked towards the system.

"Because if it wanted to attack, it wouldn’t be testing my authority first."

Ayan’s eyes narrowed.

Arin slowly stepped towards the centre of the chamber, the strange pulse reaching for him.

For one moment everything was silent.

Then a voice entered his mind.

It was rough.

Broken.

Ancient.

"Another Dungeon Master..."

Arin froze.

He glanced around.

No one else reacted.

The voice had not come from the room.

It had come to him via the authority.

"Who are you?"

No reply.

Then the presence vanished.

Arene instantly appeared.

[Communication ended.]

Arin frowned.

"That was Authority Remnant One?"

[Confirmed.]

"What did it want?"

[Unknown.]

Arin exhaled slowly.

"Great."

Eldran looked concerned.

"What happened?"

"One of them spoke to me."

That caught everyone’s attention.

"What did it say?" Saira asked.

Arin hesitated.

"That I’m another Dungeon Master."

Zarl’s smile vanished.

For the first time since entering the lower dungeon he looked genuinely uneasy.

"You heard them?"

Arin turned towards him.

"You know something?"

Zarl did not answer immediately.

Garul watched him closely.

"Zarl."

"I said nothing."

"You reacted."

Zarl looked towards Arin.

"Because the last time I heard anyone speak about Dungeon Masters like that, things became very unpleasant."

Arin’s eyes narrowed.

Before he could question him another presence suddenly surged.

The dungeon shook violently.

Aene’s warning flashed before his eyes.

[Authority Remnant 04 has entered an unstable state.]

A distant scream echoed through the stone chamber.

Everyone fell silent.

It was a woman’s voice.

Then something slammed against stone.

BOOM!

Another impact followed.

BOOM!

Arin could feel the panic coming from below.

Unlike the first authority, this one was not angry.

It was terrified.

"It’s trying to escape."

Ayan looked towards him.

"Escape from what?"

"I don’t know."

Arin focussed.

The fourth authority was pushing against its chamber but something contained it.

Chains.

Not physical chains.

Authority restraints.

A system designed to stop the Dungeon Master Authority within from escaping its host.

Arin’s expression darkened.

"They’re imprisoned."

Eldran stared at him.

"All ten?"

"I’m not sure."

Arene spoke before he could reply.

[Authority Remnants are bound to their current vessels.]

Arin looked towards the ceiling.

"Who bound them?"

No answer.

Arene’s silence was enough for him to understand that she did not know.

Then another message appeared.

[Authority Remnant 05 has detected Dungeon Master Arin Rahman.]

A new presence entered his Dungeon Sense.

Cold.

Sharp.

Focused.

Unlike the terrified fourth authority, this one immediately began probing Arin’s authority.

It was not trying to communicate.

It was studying him.

Arin felt invisible pressure wrapping around his Dungeon Master Mark.

"Someone’s inspecting my authority."

Ayan’s hand moved towards his weapon.

"Then stop it."

"I can’t."

Arin closed his eyes.

"Not without understanding what it’s doing."

The presence withdrew.

Then, to Arin’s surprise, it pulsed once.

Not an attack.

A challenge.

Arin frowned.

"That one is testing me."

Saira stepped beside him.

"Why?"

"I don’t know."

Arin looked at the ten signals within his mind.

"They’re not acting like one group."

That thought hit him harder than anything else.

They were ten Dungeon Masters.

Ten authorities.

Ten different minds.

And ten different reactions to waking up.

One wanted to know what he was.

One wanted to escape.

One was observing.

Another was terrified.

Another was testing him.

And there were five more.

The thought sent a chill down Arin’s spine.

Then one of the remaining authorities suddenly laughed.

The sound echoed through the dungeon.

It was not loud.

It was not even particularly threatening.

It was simply wrong.

A dry, broken laugh.

Arin looked towards the darkness.

The laughter continued for a few seconds before vanishing.

Arene displayed another message.

[Authority Remnant 07: Psychological instability detected.]

Zarl slowly exhaled.

"That one is bad."

Arin looked at him.

"You know them?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

Zarl’s eyes remained on the floor.

"Because I know that sound."

He did not elaborate.

Another pulse passed through the dungeon, this one calm.

[Authority Remnant 08 has acknowledged your presence.]

Arin felt the presence.

Unlike the others, it was not struggling.

It was not angry.

It did not appear to be afraid.

It simply watched.

Then a faint voice entered his mind.

"So another one inherited the authority."

Arin’s eyes widened.

Before he could reply, the connection was severed.

He could only stare into the darkness.

Ayan noticed.

"What did it say?"

Arin slowly replied.

"It knows what I am."

"That is not surprising."

"No."

Arin shook his head.

"What’s surprising is how calm it was."

The dungeon fell silent again.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then Arin felt the final presence.

The tenth.

It was different from the others.

Its authority was old.

So old he struggled to understand what he was sensing.

It did not feel damaged.

It did not feel unstable.

It felt... complete.

Arin’s breathing slowed.

Arene became unusually quiet.

Then the tenth authority opened its presence.

Arin’s Dungeon Master Mark burned.

A single sentence entered his mind.

"You are not the one I knew."

Arin froze.

The voice was deep and calm.

Not confused.

Not angry.

Not afraid.

It sounded like someone who had already accepted a great many things.

Arin swallowed.

"Who did you know?"

The answer did not come immediately.

Then the tenth authority spoke again.

"The Dungeon Master who came after me."

Arin’s eyes widened.

He understood the implication.

Older than the Dungeon Master whose memories he had seen.

But before Arin could ask anything else, the connection suddenly disappeared.

Arene’s voice returned.

[Communication terminated.]

Arin remained still.

Eldran looked at him.

"What happened?"

Arin slowly lowered his sword.

"It knows about the Dungeon Masters who came after it."

Ayan’s eyes narrowed.

"How old is it?"

"I don’t know."

The dungeon shook again.

This time, however, the movement was different.

Something massive had moved.

Not one of the ten, something deeper.

Arin’s Dungeon Sense stretched it downwards.

His face slowly changed.

"There is another level."

Ayan stared at him.

"Below the ten?"

Arin nodded.

"Yes."

The System appeared.

[Unknown Dungeon Territory detected.]

[Dungeon Master Authority insufficient for full access.]

[Warning.]

[An unidentified presence has entered the lower territory.]

Arin felt a cold sensation move through his body.

The ten authorities had awakened.

But they were not the deepest thing in the dungeon.

He looked towards the dark passage ahead.

"For now, we go back."

Eldran blinked.

"After everything we just discovered?"

"We’ve learned enough."

Arin turned towards the others.

"We know there are ten Dungeon Master Authorities below us. We know they’re imprisoned, they’re aware of me and at least some of them can communicate through Dungeon Authority."

He looked towards Ayan.

"And we just learned there’s something even deeper."

Ayan nodded.

"Then leaving is the correct choice."

Arin took one last look towards the floor.

Somewhere far below them ten ancient authorities remained awake.

Some were angry, some were afraid, some were curious, some were broken.

And one of them remembered an era Arin had never even known existed.

The expedition began to move back towards the upper dungeon.

But before Arin followed his Dungeon Master Mark suddenly pulsed.

A final message appeared.

[Authority Remnant 10 has issued a response.]

Arin stopped.

His eyes moved to the words.

[Message:]

"Tell me, young Dungeon Master..."

A pause.

Then the final line appeared.

"Who killed the Dungeon Masters?"