Princess of Balbadd (Magi x Reader)

Glory and Gloom

"She's only slowing us down."

~*~

Your group stands just outside the new dungeon. You had followed the faint trail that the snake-villager left in the desert. Surrounded by miles of flat sand, the towering structure sticks out a lot more than Zagan's dungeon which had been nestled in with the scenery. A lone mountain cubically carved to have the appearance of an abandoned city.

Sinbad hadn't said anything to you since leaving New Tison, but he didn't stop you from coming along either. So of course you followed, hoping to help the snake, who had earlier given you a ride, as well as the other villagers.

The four of you walk under one of the many archways in the wall that surrounds it and climb the stairs up to a shining door. You marvel at the architecture and admire carvings you pass while the other three are pretty silent like this was merely routine for them at this point.

At the entrance, Sinbad reaches his hand outward and touches the barrier. It sucks him in. Ja'far and Masrur enter after him. You take a deep breath and follow suit. Like with Zagan's dungeon, it feels like you are being transported into another world. Feeling like a lone spec in the universe then yanked down to the visible glowing orb.

With a splat, you find yourself hands and knees in some gray, greasy mud-like substance. You push yourself up and look around. A welcomed contrast to the dry desert heat, it was several degrees cooler here. This was not enclosed like the other dungeon rooms you've been in. Even the necropolis before Zagan's treasure room seemed to have a glass dome over the whole of it. Now, all you see is mist in the distance. No landmarks to know which way to go.

A few minutes pass while figuring out what to do when an eight pointed star illuminates underneath you. Startled, you hop backwards. Soon Ja'far and Masur land in the mud. They stand, Ja'far trying to wipe the sludge off but only smearing it on his white desert robes and Masrur flicks his arms to remove the excess that hadn't soaked in yet.

They survey the area.

"Amazing how all this can fit in a dungeon!" you muse. "Do you think we'll be able to find the villagers in all this?

"Well, I'm sure our serpent friend couldn't have gotten too far..." Ja'far says.

"But...time fluctuation?" you remind him. Even though you couldn't have entered more than an hour after the villager, you and the boys were mere seconds apart from entering and still waiting for Sinbad to show up.

Speaking of who, the entrance gate glows again and in falls the King of Adventures. He twists his body so he lands on his feet. The impact sends a tremor up his body, but he stands up straight like it was nothing.

Meanwhile, Ja'far answers your question, "If the djinn is reasonable, we may be able to ask for them to come home with us. We really just need to make sure we don't confuse them with the local dungeon creatures and kill them by mistake."

Sinbad claps the backs of Ja'far and Masrur as he announces, "We're all here? Good. Let us proceed!" He points in a direction and leads the way.

The others don't question it, but you wonder how he could tell the correct path as everything looks the same.

The only sound is the squelching of mud under your feet. It goes on forever with no change in sight. Except it feels like the mud gets deeper the further you go. It is currently halfway up your shins, making it harder to walk.

"Are you absolutely sure that we're going the right way? What if the next room is the exact opposite direction and we're just getting farther from it?"

"My intuition tells me we need to go this way," Sinbad explains, "Think of it as testing our endurance."