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You’d think a spider hybrid would feel right at home in some long forgotten dark and damp dungeon, and you’d mostly be right– if not for the small army of goblins, gremlins, and other assorted ghastly ghoulies in every room, at least. Still, they were usually no match for Shadowsting, Pearl’s trusty sword, which she had since arriving in this strange world.
Room after room, Pearl entered and dealt with the monsters that would inevitably manifest out of thin air. It had become a bit of a routine. Thankfully, she was occasionally rewarded for her efforts. Most of the chests she opened didn’t contain much of value, but sometimes she’d find a magical sword, a bow, maybe some healing potions. They were rarely anything better than what she had, but they would make for good bartering materials.
This room, however, seemed to be filled with significantly more monsters than any of the previous ones. Quickly climbing up a wall to get away from their swords and daggers, Pearl dexterously took out her bow and started picking them off one by one. Nock an arrow, pull the string taut, release, then repeat; it was almost instinctual at this point, muscle memory doing all the heavy lifting.
And, ok– Pearl should have been more careful, should have climbed up higher, but a zombie managed to get a lucky swipe in on her leg, causing her to lose her balance and fall back down to the ground. The fall hurt, but she didn’t have too much time to process what happened before the zombie went in for another hit.
“Exārdēminī!”
Suddenly, a fireball shot straight towards the center of the group, instantly killing a few monsters while knocking back the rest, giving Pearl a chance to pull out Shadowsting and slash the zombie in front of her. Rushing back up to her feet, she dodged out of the way of a stray arrow and stabbed a skeleton that shuffled its way near her.
Pearl switched back to her bow and started shooting arrows towards any enemy she spotted. Sparing the newcomer a glance, they seemed… vaguely familiar? Not in any discernible way, she just had this weird sense of familiarity to her. Pearl didn’t remember meeting anyone with what looked like green skin– well… ever, really.
The stranger was wearing a rather simple grayish-blue cloak, framed with golden accents, that extended down to her knees, almost like a dress. Her most defining feature by far, though, had to be her bright orange hair that– hang on, why did the hair look like it was moving on its own?
Interrupting Pearl’s thoughts with a final “Glaciāminī!” and a wave of the hand, the last of the enemies was frozen solid by the mage.
“There we go. Aren’t you lucky I found you when I did?” The person chuckled, not unkindly, before walking over to Pearl and fishing around in their cloak’s pockets before pulling out a potion of healing and handing it to her.
“At this point, I think I might’ve been done for if you hadn’t saved me, thank you!” Now that the stranger was closer, Pearl could clearly see that the hair she thought was moving on its own was, in actuality, more than a dozen fiery orange snakes. Another mythical hybrid like herself, then.
“You’re welcome. This might sound silly, but… Do I know you from somewhere? You seem– well, you seem strangely familiar, is all.” The mage’s voice dropped ever-so-slightly, curiosity colouring their words.
“Oh! I asked myself the same thing when I saw you! I don’t think we’ve met before, though. Have we?” Now that she was thinking about it, this wasn’t the first time Pearl had had the impression she knew someone she had just met in this world. That knight with the flamingo floatie and the weirdly named elf wizard both inspired the same bizarre sense of déjà vu in her, too.
“Hm… No, I don’t think we have, to be honest. Right. Yes. Well, I’m Cleo, the mage. Lovely to make your acquaintance.” A small smile accompanied her words.
“Pearl! Lovely to meetcha too! Those were some proper spells back there, you know! Thanks again for saving me.” The spells really did seem impressive. Was that Latin? Pearl didn’t know any Latin, but it definitely felt Latin.
“No problem, really. Now c’mon, let’s go. You’re not done with this place yet, right? It’ll go by a lot faster if we went through it together.” With that, Cleo promptly started walking towards the next chamber, heading deeper into the dungeon with Pearl close on her heels.
Something about that recurring sense of déjà vu nagged at Pearl, but for now, she was glad to have found a new friend in Cleo.