WC: 3174 (:O)

Warnings: Mild violence (doesn't go too deep into the details)

Two idiots and one slightly more competent idiot go out to try and kill the Ruins Ravager.

-

"So...what's the plan?"

Etho stepped over a patch of slippery moss in his path before looking back at Zed, who had asked the question. "I thought you guys had this all planned out."

Zed shrugged loosely. He wore a plain brown tunic over blue jeans. The only things he'd brought along before they went out were his map of the Dungeon and a small sack of coins, similar to the one Iskall had given Etho back in the Black Market.

As they walked, he took out the bag and started tossing it back and forth between his hands. The coins made little jingling sounds as they were shifted around.

"We talked about possible ways to kill it, yeah," he said after a moment. "It's a bit harder in the Ruins, since a lot of the traps and stuff don't really work here anymore. Plus, Ravagers are tricky. You don't know if they're even going to do what you want them to do."

He wasn't really reassuring Etho that this was going to work. "Right...but you do have a way to kill it, right?"

"Yeah!" Grian said, chiming into the conversation. He was trying to flap his broken wing to see if he could hover for a bit, but he was just spewing feathers everywhere and probably damaging the broken bone even more.

"Our best bet is to catch it in the Crossroads," he continued between wing beats. "Then we can lure it to the Labyrinth, since there are more options to kill it in there. Stuff like the void hole you used to kill the last Ravager."

Grian's good wing whacked Zed in the back, and he stumbled forward into Etho. He turned back to Grian, grumbling, "Watch the wings, man."

"My bad." Despite Zed's complaints, Grian kept trying to fly. The best he could do was three or four flaps before he crashed to the ground messily again.

Zed brushed a couple of feathers out of his hair, turning back to Etho again. "Anyway, the Crossroads should be coming up soon. The Ravager likes to go between here and the Fortress, so we always use the other entrance to the Ruins--the one to the Labyrinth--to avoid it. That's the route we need to take later."

"The run to the Labyrinth is pretty long," Etho noted, pulling out his own map to study it. He traced the Crossroads bridge to the Labyrinth. "You sure this is going to work?"

"Yeah. 90 percent sure." Zed paused. "Okay, 80 percent sure."

"Zed..."

"60 percent?"

Etho shook his head, but he had to admit that taking down the Labyrinth Ravager hadn't gone to plan either. "Well...worst comes to worst, we'll improvise."

Grian, who was still attempting to fly despite multiple failures, piped up, saying, "Hey, if you guys need someone to fly ahead, I can do it!"

The sound of him crashing into the wall reached the other two, and Etho sighed inwardly.

"Okay, maybe not for long distances, but..."

Zed walked ahead of Etho and pushed through a cluster of vines hanging from a cracked stone arch. "Through here, guys. We're almost there."

Grian finally stopped trying to hover and joined Etho and Zed up front. As they walked, he twiddled with the compass hanging around his neck, whose needle was now spinning in all directions.

Etho gestured to the compass. "I've been wondering about that. How come the needle doesn't point north like it should?"

"It's not defective or anything." Grian turned the compass over and showed it to Etho. The back had small Galactic symbols seared into the metal. Etho still couldn't understand the language, but Grian had no problem.

"This compass apparently leads to treasure hidden somewhere else in the Dungeon. I found it a while back, just sitting in a Ruins barrel. As far I know, no Wanderer hid it, so I'm not sure where it came from."

"So, where's the treasure, then?"

Grian winced. "The Fortress, unfortunately. I'm not getting it any time soon."

Etho tried for optimism. "Hey, maybe when we kill these last two Ravagers, you'll get a chance to find that loot."

Grian gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Hopefully."

They approached the end of the Ruins, where the entrance to the castle that used to stand here would have been. Now, the place was reduced to rubble, crumbling stone pillars and arches being the only thing that signaled that this was where the center of a kingdom used to lay.

"Alright, we're here," Grian said, looking around. He kicked a small pebble aside with his foot. "Now all we need to do is find that Ravager, right?"

"Guys." Zed's voice suddenly got quiet. He stopped in his tracks, holding out an arm to stop the other two from going any further. "Don't panic. But it's right there."

They peeked around a broken stone pillar and gestured to the Crossroads in front of them. Sure enough, the Ravager was right on the Crossroads's bridge.

Grian swore under his breath. "How do we do this?"

Zed furrowed his brow. "We probably need to lure it away from that bridge, then make a dash for it and hope it chases us."

"Hold on," Etho interrupted. An idea started to brew in his mind--something Iskall had told him in the Black Market.

They'd talked about a trap set in the Ruins. If you triggered it, it would cause...what were they called? Evokers? Whatever they were, they were apparently very deadly, and they would attack everything in sight if they were summoned.

What if Etho could trigger that trap on purpose, so that way the Evokers could kill the Ravager for them? That way they didn't have to run to the Labyrinth--they just had to lead it deeper into the Ruins, where the Evokers would be.

It was a flawed plan. The Evokers might not be enough to kill the Ravager, for one. Traps in the Ruins were notoriously unreliable--it might not even work. The Ravager could decide to run to the Labyrinth anyway, following Etho.

But, then again, it was a better plan than what they had before. And that was a start.

"I have an idea," Etho said out loud. "But you two are going to have to cover me."

"What are you going to do?" Zed asked, still keeping one eye on the Ravager, which thankfully hadn't spotted them yet.

"There's a trap that can be triggered in the Ruins. But to activate it, I'm going to have to run to the Labyrinth. I need you two to lead the Ravager back into the Ruins, away from the Crossroads."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Grian protested. Etho and Zed quickly shushed him before his voice could reach the Ravager.

"But Grian's right," Zed agreed, his voice low. "The Crossroads is our best bet. Why do you want us to go into the Ruins again? That's closer to base camp as well."

"Trust me, if this trap works, it'll be a safer bet than running into the Labyrinth again," Etho insisted.

"At least explain what this trap does," Grian said.

"You're not going to believe me, but alright. Basically, this trap causes these magicians called Evokers to appear in the Ruins, and they'll attack everything in sight before disappearing again."

Grian stared at him for a count of five. "You're right, I don't believe you. How have we not learned about this before? I mean, our camp is in the Ruins, and these Evokers have been here the whole time? And we haven't known about it?"

"It sounds ridiculous, I know," Etho said. "But I trust the source. They've been helpful before. I'm also going to need your bag of coins, Zed. This trap requires money to start it."

Zed sighed under his breath, then pulled the sack out of his pocket, handing it to Etho. "I think we're going to have to go with this plan, Grian. I mean, he took down the Labyrinth Ravager by himself. If Etho's right about these Evokers in the Ruins, well...that would be easier than running all the way to the Labyrinth again."

Etho waited for Grian's verdict. Finally, the Avian nodded. "Right. Let's do this, then."

Etho gave them both a grateful look. "Are you sure you two can distract it for long enough?"

Grian smiled dryly. "I think I'm annoying enough to keep it occupied. Don't worry about us. You're the one who should be careful, alright?"

"Good luck," Etho said, and the pair exited the Ruins to distract the Ravager.

The Ravager immediately spotted them nearing and made chase quickly. Grian managed a few good wing flaps for once and landed ahead of Zed, occasionally looking behind and taunting the Ravager to anger it even more.

Once they had run far enough into the Ruins, the Ravager in hot pursuit, Etho quickly took the now-clear bridge straight to the Labyrinth.

The run to the Black Market seemed to take forever, though it was probably only a few minutes. Each second was another second that Grian and Zed were occupying the Ravager, so each one counted.

Etho quickly made his way to Soul Sand Valley, but he hesitated in front of the crimson door that led to the market, remembering the wither roses.

No time to stop now. He steeled himself and plunged into the darkness. The wither effect hit instantly, but he just kept running, ignoring the jolts of pain, now knowing the route to the shop.

When he entered the Black Market again, Iskall was sitting on the shop's barrels. They jumped when they heard Etho crash it. "Wh--Etho, what are you doing here?"

Etho ran straight to the gambling machine, not bothering to explain everything to Iskall. The wither effect wore off as he did, since he wasn't in the roses for long. He yanked out his own bag of coins and dumped the whole thing into the slot, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

"How do you start this thing?" he quickly asked Iskall.

"Why are you triggering the trap??" Iskall protested. "Do you want those Evokers to appear in the Ruins?"

"Yeah, I do. Long story, but we need to kill the Ruins Ravager, like, right now. So I really need to start this machine up."

Thank goodness, Iskall understood immediately and didn't ask any more questions. They got up quickly and strode over to Etho, pointing to a stone button below the Redstone lamp on the machine. "Press that as many times as you need."

Etho slammed the button down, and one emerald coin fell into the lower parts of the machine. He went as fast as the machine could process the coins, but it felt painfully slow.

The first few times, he actually got lucky and received more coins from the machine. But, for once, he didn't care about the money. He just wanted the trap to be set. The coins he got went right back into the slots.

When he ran out of coins from his own bag, he just pulled out Zed's sack and dumped those coins in. He didn't know how many coins it would take to fully activate the trap, but he didn't want to take any chances. With his luck, he would go back and see that only half the Evokers were out or something.

So he just kept going.

Finally, all the coins were in the machine--even the extras Etho had gotten from the machine. As he turned, Iskall reached into a nearby barrel and pressed a potion into his hand. Etho didn't know what kind it was, but the liquid was a milky purple color.

"At least take this to be safe," they said. "It's an invisibility potion. It'll keep you safe for 8 minutes. And good luck."

Etho nodded, not quite sure what he'd do with the potion yet, then exited the Black Market, leaving Iskall behind for the second time.

When he entered the Ruins again, he immediately spotted Grian and Zed in the center of the old castle courtyard, where they'd been earlier. Zed was breathing heavily, and Grian had lost quite a few feathers during the chase.

Their attention wasn't on Etho, though--it was on the Ravager, and the Evokers surrounding it.

The trap had worked, after all. And it seemed to be doing its job so far. Etho breathed a sigh of relief, but he still had to make sure he or his friends weren't caught in the crossfire.

He ran up to Grian and Zed and grabbed their hands, pulling them away from the Ravager. "Out of sight from those Evokers. Right now. We can't let them see us, or else, they'll attack."

The three hid behind a tall stone pillar, watching from what was hopefully a safe distance. Etho watched the Evokers warily, wondering what they'd do.

The Evokers' skin was gray, and they wore simple black robes with gold trim. There was a cluster of them, maybe three or four, that had come out from the ground and had formed an almost-perfect circle around the Ravager.

The Ravager was snarling, staring at the odd people in front of it like it wasn't sure what to make of them. As it reared back to charge, coming to the conclusion that these newcomers were a threat, the Evokers struck.

The magicians raised their arms in unison, and sharp fangs rose out from the Ruins floor, snapping and making a straight line to the Ravager. Small, transparent, ghost-like creatures flew out of the floor and walls, attacking the beast with heavy stone swords.

Etho backed away from the carnage slowly, silently hoping the Evokers or Vexes didn't see them hiding nearby. The pillar they were hiding behind wouldn't be much protection against entities that could fly through solid blocks, or fangs that snaked around the floor, honing in on their target.

But the Evokers' attention was fully fixed on the massive beast in front of them.

It was gruesome to watch. Between the Vexes hacking away at the Ravager's hide with their swords and the fangs biting at its feet, it didn't stand a chance. It tried to attack the Evokers, but the fangs kept it at a safe distance.

The magicians made quick work of the Ravager. Etho was grateful the Evokers didn't find them--if they could easily take out a Ravager of that magnitude, they would have no problem killing three small humans with virtually no defense.

It wasn't long before there was a dead Ravager lying in the Evoker circle. It was almost pitiful to watch--a massive beast getting destroyed by 4 small magicians--but Etho knew it deserved what it got.

The Vexes hovered around the Ravager, making sure it was dead before dissipating into puffs of smoke. The Evokers lowered their arms and sank back into the ground shortly after, ready for the next time someone was foolish enough to trigger that small trap in the Black Market.

Grian stared at the Ravager carcass in front of them--now the only thing that remained of the tussle between it and the Evokers--and let out a long exhale. "Thank god."

Zed walked up carefully to the Ravager, studying the deep cuts and gashes from the attack. When it didn't stir as he neared, he gave it a spiteful kick with his left foot.

"It's actually dead." He turned to give Etho an appraising look. "When you kill Ravagers, you don't mess around, huh?"

Etho gave him a small smile. "Hey, the Evokers did all the work. I just sprung the trap."

"How did you know about that trap, anyway?" Grian asked. "I mean, even Zed didn't know, and he's sort of our expert. Did someone tell you?"

Etho paused. "Yeah. A friend of mine."

Something occurred to him, and he peered at a cracked stone tile--one of the spots where an Evoker had been just a moment ago. Now that he was looking closely, he noticed something different.

"See this?" He knelt down and pointed to a corner on the tile, brushing off some dust. Grian and Zed peered over his shoulder. Carved into the tile was a small drawing of what vaguely resembled the Evokers, except this one had wings.

"There. You wouldn't have noticed it unless you knew something was different about the tile. I bet there are tiles like this elsewhere in the Ruins that signal that there's an Evoker that will spring out of that block."

Zed let out a low whistle. "Good call. I'll be sure to look out for those and mark 'em on the map. Maybe we can use them to our advantage when we kill another Ravager...?"

Grian suddenly laughed when something occurred to him. "No, we're not, Zed! There's only one more Ravager left, remember? The one in the Fortress."

"One more left," Etho marveled. "You're almost done."

"We're almost done," Grian corrected. "You helped kill the last two Ravagers, after all."

"Speaking of Ravagers...you said the last one was in the Fortress. How are you guys going to do that? The Fortress is one of the least-known areas in the Dungeon."

Grian rocked his right hand back and forth. "It's still in planning. We don't know how we're going to approach this yet, with the unknown territory and all. Probably going to be another few weeks or so before we're ready."

"Yeah," Zed agreed. "Just lay back and relax, Etho. You deserve it after all this."

Etho reached for the potion bottle Iskall had given him earlier. He shook it a few times, and its contents sloshed back and forth slowly. The colors seemed to shift, too, between a blue-violet color and the milky lavender he saw earlier.

"Maybe I can do some advance scouting for you," he said as he studied the potion.

"...Um." Zed looked at him weirdly. "How are you going to look around with the Ravager in there? And, well, all the extra unknown monsters, too, I'm sure there's a few--"

Etho just gave him a dry smile, mimicking Iskall's expression. He uncorked the bottle and downed the potion in two sips.

The potion changed flavors as he drank--first it had a brittle, icy, almost metallic taste. Then it faded into a bitter, acidic taste as he swallowed it, almost resembling the taste of poison or bile. The shifting of flavors reminded him of the changing colors earlier, like there were two potions mixed into one.

Etho looked down and watched in fascination as his boots faded into what looked like nothingness, like how the Vexes had disappeared into puffs of smoke earlier. He couldn't see them, but he could still feel them there. He felt like he wasn't grounded to the floor anymore, and he didn't like that feeling.

Grian and Zed watched in awe as the rest of Etho seemed to fade away, the potion quickly doing its work to make him blend in with the rest of the Ruins in perfect invisibility.

"I have my ways."

-

We're already about halfway through this book, my god-

If you're wondering, I have 13 chapters planned, technically 12 chapters and an epilogue, not counting the extra chapters later on :)

The next chapter will have some action, but it focuses more on character development and worldbuilding more than anything. I think it's going to be a shorter chapter than this one--3k words, wow--so hopefully that should be a nice break from the action this chapter ^^ I'm trying to balance out the action and worldbuilding evenly for this book

To explain the taste of the invisibility potion btw: To make it, you first need to make a night vision potion, which uses a golden carrot. Then you add a fermented spider eye to "invert" the potion, which turns it into invisibility. BirdLover345, FandomsUnite05, and _-Daiya-_ helped me with that, thanks guys <3

Until next update!