Aston:


    I couldn’t believe my luck. There was just no way there was a ruin so close to an Origin Village that hadn’t been… cataloged yet. The stone entryway loomed ominously before me, still sealed after untold ages.


    I began an incantation to unlock the door, the only bit of magic I knew. The only real requirement to be a Relic Hunter, if I were being honest. The Key Incantation, which did nothing but unsealing most of these ancient ruins. The incantation rolled off my tongue, power flowing through me, light gathering on the seal of the door. The incantation finished with a snap, and…


    Nothing happened. It opens most of these ruins. I guess that explained why this particular ruin remained unraided. Still, I had one more trick up my sleeve. I had picked up a nice bit of technology from a previous ruin I had investigated, and it was handy enough that I hadn’t sold it off.


    I rummaged through my backpack until I found it. A long piece of solid metal, a bit less than a meter, curved and tapered at the end. I wasn’t sure what the original purpose was, but I referred to it as my Skeleton Key. I forced it into the small gap between the stone seal and the door, and used the length to apply leverage.


    Before long, the seal cracked and fell off the door, and the entrance swung open. Another win for the Skeleton Key.


    As I stepped into the old building, the torches on the walls flared to life. There seemed to be a single path leading forward, which was unusual. There were no side rooms to explore, no treasures of note. That usually meant either one central room with a very large amount of treasure, or one central room with a very angry and very deadly beast. Still, it would probably be worth the gamble.


    The path continued onward for a fair distance before ending at one more sealed door. Another attempt at the Key Invocation offered no entry, unsurprisingly, but the Skeleton Key served as honorably as it ever did.


    The entrance swung open, and I was immediately greeted with a pair of glowing reptilian eyes larger than my head.


    Nope.


    I immediately screamed a warcry, did a strategic evaluation, and executed a tactical retreat right out of the ruins. The creature bellowed behind me, loud enough to shake the foundation of the building, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. This hastened my pace to a mildly concerned retreat.


    As I exited the building, I could hear the steps of whatever had been sealed away in these ruins following behind me. After a quick assessment of the surroundings, I took a covered position in a bush near the door, out of immediate line of sight of whatever was about to exit.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    To my relief, when the creature stepped out into the sunlight, it didn’t seem particularly interested in finding me. It was impossibly massive - clearly larger than the corridor we had both emerged from. I didn’t understand how that could work, but that seemed like a question for a smarter man than I. The creature was all muscles and obsidian scales, with four legs and a pair of wings. It almost appeared to be a dragon, but it was much larger than dragons generally were.


    The beast stretched its wings, then flapped them down once, with incredible force. It lifted off into the air more ably and with more grace than something of its size had any right to, and flew off into the distance. That probably should have concerned me more than it did, but I was much more relieved that my plan had worked, and I had not become a snack.


    I waited a few more minutes, waiting for something else to go wrong. Silence reigned throughout the woods, with no additional sounds of oncoming catastrophe coming from the ruins. I briefly considered gambling that there was only one giant sealed beast in the ruin, and trying to investigate further. This train of thought came to an abrupt end when I found the entrance collapsed in the wake of the enormous horror.


    I took a look at my map, which had marked where the ruins are, as well as nearby villages. I was fairly close to an Origin Village, Boyersford, but it was already fairly late. I didn’t particularly want to risk traversing the woods at night, and there was no real rush for me to get back to civilization, either. I’d just work on getting some distance between the ruins and myself, set up camp, and work out a new plan tomorrow evening, from the tavern.


    About an hour later, I had set up a small camp, and was cooking some dinner over my campfire, thinking over the day’s events. This expedition was an unmitigated disaster. Not only had I not gained anything of worth, but if whatever that dragon-thing was caused trouble, and its appearance linked to me opening these ruins, I could be held liable for dealing with it.


    The thought chilled me to the core. I wasn’t sure how I could deal with a problem of that scale. Regardless, that seemed to be a problem for Future Aston. For now, I’d eat my dinner, get some sleep, and work out the rest as it came.


    -----------


    I woke later than I had planned on, the late morning sun finally rousing me from slumber. Packing up the camp did not take long. I wanted to be on my way and back into civilization as soon as humanly possible.


    As I was on my way, a Notice popped up. I dismissed it without really reading it. These things were never anything that impacted my life.


    A few moments later, another Notice came. I dismissed that one, as well.


    The third Notice caught my attention.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    You have been selected to be The Archmage for this new cycle! Congratulations!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Oh no.