The Plaguefeather

"Console... The word 'console' is the key."

For now, I have to set aside the unsettling thought of why such a word exists here—as if everything is part of a program written on a computer… or maybe even a game. Whatever the truth is, it doesn't matter at this moment. What matters is studying this world carefully, breaking it down piece by piece… The question of whether this is a simulation, a game, or a true fantasy world can wait.

"What does 'console' mean? Did you just make up those words? What for?" Siona asks, her confusion mirroring my own.

"I need you to say every word you can remember that people use in their spells. It doesn't matter if the pronunciation is off or if you misheard something—just anything you've ever heard in a spell."

"I wish it were that simple, but it's not. Some spells can only be used by certain families, and others require a specific amount of stats—"

I cut her off bluntly. "Do you want my help or not?"

Siona sighs in frustration, but beneath her irritation, a faint glimmer of hope flickers in her eyes—subtle, yet unmistakable. Maybe that's why she suddenly refrains from questioning my request.

Instead, she simply obeys as we move to put away our utensils and fall back in line. As we make our way down the long, descending corridor, Siona does her best to recall the few spell words she knows.

I have no doubt about her strength or skill in combat—she's a knight, after all, trained for close-quarters battle. If not for that, she wouldn't be here with the rest of us, a group of assassins and fighters.

It's definitely because her intelligence and arcane stats haven't been particularly high since birth, which is why she never bothered to learn magic in the first place.

And honestly, I think it's the wiser choice—to focus on one's true strengths rather than struggle with something beyond reach.

"Ignirath."

Fire…

"Zareth."

Authority…

"Vael."

To oneself…

"Ithorin."

Revert…

"Draevun."

Reinforce…

"Drapet."

…this one is wrong.

"It's Dravent."

"What?"

"We pronounce it Dravent, not Drapet."

Siona shoots me a suspicious look the moment I correct her spelling… But I ignored it for just a moment.

And about that, there are many words she recites that stir a strange sense of nostalgia—almost like déjà vu. It doesn't make sense; I'm sure I've never heard them before in my life, yet they feel oddly familiar.

Some words also seem to share the same meaning. Like Ignirath and Naga—both of which, from what I can tell, mean fire. But am I misinterpreting them?

Or have I stumbled upon another language entirely, one I somehow understand but mistakenly assumed to be the same as the rest?

"I guess we can continue this later." Siona gestures ahead, drawing my attention to the massive wooden doors looming before us.

As they creak open, an immense chamber stretches beyond—a space so vast it could swallow four football fields with ease. But despite its vastness, it's nothing more than yet another basement, covered by imposing walls and a ceiling that looms far above. The dark stonework is also flawless, each slab meticulously arranged with an unnatural precision.

And then there are the pillars—colossal monoliths stretching high above, their sheer scale defying logic, standing as if they've been shaped by something beyond mere hands and tools… That if this structure had been constructed purely through engineering and brute labor, it shouldn't have been possible in this era.

Not to mention, eight massive holes are evenly distributed across the chamber floor, each plunging nearly ten meters before meeting the dark, motionless water below. Covering each abyss is a perfectly circular iron grate, its edges slick with moisture and slightly submerged beneath the surface.

From every grate, four enormous chains stretch skyward, their rusted links vanishing into the dim heights of the cavernous ceiling—silent, foreboding, and undoubtedly meant for something far more sinister than mere drainage.

~~~~~

One of the elders steps forward, raising a hand as they chant an incantation.

A deep, resonant clank reverberates through the chamber as the iron grate shudders, then slowly lifts, pulled upward by the massive chains… Water cascades from its surface in heavy rivulets, the sound of droplets striking stone echoing eerily through the vast space.

Then without warning, a searing light bursts from above—unnatural and piercing, like sunlight forced into a place it doesn't belong. It cuts through the gloom in a straight column, pouring directly into the pit below. The rest of the chamber remains steeped in shadows, the overwhelming radiance illuminating only the depths beneath our feet.

"I order all of you... Jump."

The elder's calm voice rings out behind us, sending a shiver through everyone's spine while almost instantly, the warning window flares up again—the same ominous sign of defiance. And without any hesitation, most of the children leap, their bodies plunging into the depths below, swallowed by the water far beneath.

But not all of us.

Fewer than ten remain, frozen in place, resisting the compulsion.

I find myself exchanging glances with a few others, among them is Gideon… And all of our gazes meet—not in unity, not in shared defiance, but in something colder. Arrogance. Each of us has thought ourselves the only one strong enough to resist, only to realize we aren't as exceptional as we believed.

And it isn't even close to what we imagined.

The moment the defiance counter hits ten, we all jump—every last one of us who had resisted until now. The icy water swallows us whole, dragging us into its depths. A sharp, freezing shock seizes my body, but I force myself to move, kicking upward with all my strength, desperate to break through the surface.

"To survive, dive and swim toward the light."

A voice echoes from above.

Though his face is obscured by the blinding glow behind his bald head, his words are clear. "You will have air for only two minutes. After that, you must dive again and resurface at another hole—one where the iron grate has lifted slightly and where the light appears in the same place."

As the old man's silhouette fades into the brightness, the heavy groan of shifting chains fills the chamber.

The iron grate above us begins to descend—slow, steady, and merciless—offering no pause, no hesitation. The space for air is vanishing, and soon, there will be none left.

"Shit… We gotta move!"

"But where, goddammit!?"

Panic spreads like wildfire as the iron grate presses down, forcing our noses closer to the water's surface. Desperation claws at my chest, but there's no way all of us are meant to die here without being given even the slightest clue on how to survive this. So fighting every screaming instinct, I force myself to stay calm, take one last deep breath—deep enough to count—before it's too late.

Then, in an instant, the blinding light above us flickers and dims, revealing a faint glow deep beneath the water. A network of tunnels stretches in multiple directions, but only one of them emanates light.

And I'm not the only one who sees it. Several other kids seem to come to the same conclusion, and before anyone can react, they're already diving first, pushing ahead of the rest in a frantic bid to reach the light.

So I made my choice.

I'm not about to be left behind.

At the very least, thanks to my effort to stay calm, navigating through the underwater tunnels isn't as difficult as I feared. Also, at the end of the passage, we eventually find another massive hole, its iron grate lifted just enough for us to catch our breath in relief.

"I can't... I swallowed too much water. This is just going to kill me slowly," someone chokes out between relentless coughing—and they aren't even the last to make it here.

"This is so the root of Nyxthorn forces our bodies to grow," I hear Gideon's voice from a distance, speaking to someone else. "For the Withering Blight to take effect, our bodies have to hit their limit and level up fast. Those bastards did all this for that reason."

Not long after his words fade, the grinding clatter of chains echoes once more, forcing the heavy iron grate down and submerging our heads again… yet no one moves to dive in search of the next path. The bright light above still shines brilliantly, while the faint glow in the depths has yet to reveal its source.

It isn't until twenty seconds have passed that the moment finally arrives—everyone moves at once, surging toward another tunnel now faintly visible thanks to the dim light from the other side.

And if my count is correct, it takes about one minute and fifteen seconds to swim from one massive hole to the next. But the guiding light only appears for two minutes, meaning we have roughly forty-five seconds to catch our breath and regain our composure at each stop.

Something we do over and over again, until my head begs me to abandon counting and just focus on staying in the flow, keeping pace.

Even when I have to push past two floating corpses in one of the narrow tunnels, my mind remains locked onto survival—nothing else matters.

That is, until a notification suddenly appears before me… and in front of a few of the others as well.

╔══════════════════════════════════════════ ══╗

║ ⌈ Level Up Window ⌋ ║

╠══════════════════════════════════════════ ══╣

║ ▶ Name: **Deon Ravenheart** ║

║ ▶ Race: **Human** ║

║ ▶ Level: **2** ║

║ ▶ Class: **Unassigned** ║

║ ▶ Title: **[None]** ║

║ ▶ Energy Orientation: **[None]** ║

║ ▶ Destiny Bind: **[None]** ║

║ ║

║ ▶ HP: **112 / 125** ⬆ (+13)** ║

║ ▶ SP: **21 / 182** ⬆ (+9)** ║

║ ║

║ ▶ MP: **1 / 45** ⬆ (+4)**  ║

║ ▶ EP: **1 / 82** ⬆ (+7)** ║

║ ║

║ ▶ Strength: **17** ⬆ (+2)** ║

║ ▶ Agility: **36** ⬆ (+5)** ║

║ ▶ Arcane: **13** ⬆ (+2)**  ║

║ ▶ Essence: **11** ⬆ (+2)** ║

║ ▶ Sanity: **25** ⬆ (+1)**  ║

║ ▶ Intelligence: **17** ⬆ (+2)**  ║

╠══════════════════════════════════════════ ══╣

║ ⌈ Skill and Effect List ⌋ ║

╠══════════════════════════════════════════ ══╣

║ **[The Withering Blight]** ║

║ Status: Active ║

║ + Infection Progress: 88% ║

║ + Base stats amplification: 1.5 ║

║ + Level up stats amplification: 1.75 ║

║  + Time Remaining Before ║

║ Vessel Expiration: 3 years, 3 months, 13 days ⬇ (-1 day) ║

║ ║

╚══════════════════════════════════════════ ══╝

~~~~~