Something had been bothering Kimi for several days. She knew that the strange teleportation trap that Mirgia, herself and some of the others present at the raid fell into could not have been planned. At least not to the point that they would know that she specifically went here. Yet the priests she was accompanying right now seemed like they almost expected her arrival. As a follower of Abreloka she knew how powerful the Arpentara truly were and it wouldn’t be the first miraculous thing she would encounter in her long life, but just chalking the whole thing up to Owlana’s interference in the fate of the world felt wrong to her. Still, despite being fishy, the head priest and his companions had been nothing but extremely polite to her so far, and with the confirmation that Mirgia was also inside the dungeon, she knew it would benefit her to go inside of it as well. Still, the feeling in the back of her mind didn’t go away when she stared at the looming dungeon. It also seemed like the humans here had absolutely no idea what the appearance of this building meant, but that wasn’t true for Kimi. Coming from the spirit realm, she was similar to Mana in the sense that this was the second world she found herself in. Although spirits traveling to the mortal realm was a relatively common thing and Mana’s forced transportation to their world was much more rare, it was still a similar experience. And the differences in their worlds made it so Kimi knew what this was. When a lot of magical energy flowed through the air – this usually happened after a great calamity or a clash between powerful mages – the magic could rend the boundary of space. When that happened, it could move things from one place to another in an instant. Not only that, but sometimes it would even move things from other realms to this realm. It has long been theorized that it could also move things from their world to other realms, but there has been no way to verify this theory. Kimi knew exactly what this was. This was a dungeon built in the spirit realm that somehow ended up here. How and why it was here, that was something she couldn’t answer, but knowing that it came from the spirit realm was enough cause for alarm. The traps and mysteries that laid within this dungeon would be much more twisted and confusing than the ones you would find in an excavated place. Mirgia was in danger. And as much as she hated to admit it, despite being a spirit familiar with these sorts of dungeons, she wasn’t exactly much better equipped to deal with much of what they had to offer. There were wild spirits back in her homeland who made it their mission to explore and excavate these strange magical dungeons, but many of them would inevitably fail to return. Those who did succeed in conquering dungeons would gain wealth and power beyond imagination. Some of them lurk in the shadows to this day, one bad decision away from upsetting the balance of both worlds. It was a delicate balance and she shuddered to think about what would happen if someone went rogue.
She shook the thoughts away and focused on the present. Head priest Danil was ordering his men and women around to get ready for their descent into the dungeon. He seemed to have a plan for what to do and from what Kimi could gather had been preparing for this inevitability for quite a while. It didn’t sit right with her. Still, when they called for her to join them in their descent, she didn’t hesitate. Her first step was to reunite with Mirgia, a plan for the future would come after that.

The first split in the road was one where there didn’t seem to be much explanation for where to go next. But Kimia knew immediately what route Mirgia and his companions would have taken. Not just them, anyone unprepared to deal with the chilling magic that hung stale in this space would go the left route.
Head priest Danil sighed in frustration. He’d translated the words on the little pedestal and relayed them to his companions, but they didn’t really tell them anything. “I’m not sure where to go from here, I have to admit.” He looked at Kimia. “Do you have any suggestions, wise spirit?”
“I have a suspicion, but I want to see if I’m right.” She looked at the group gathered here. “I would like all of you to stand a little bit separated from each other.” The priests looked among each other but hesitantly complied.
“Now, I want everyone to close their eyes.” This request went over less well. “Trust me on this, it will make sense shortly and it will only take a moment.”
Reluctantly, they followed her commands, although the head priest kept his eyes opened, trained on Kimi, who nodded acknowledgement. “Now, I want everyone who thinks we should take the path on the left to raise their left hand, and I want everyone who thinks we should take the right path to raise their right hand.” She paused for a moment. “Now open your eyes.”
Everyone now saw what the head priest and Kimi also saw. Every single hand that was raised was a left hand.
Danil smiled. “I was leaning towards the left hallway too, if I’m honest with you.”
Kimi nodded. “That makes sense, there’s magic in this dungeon that is trying to bring us somewhere. It’s got a frightening amount of layers to it, so that anyone who realizes they are stuck in its trap will only think to remove themselves from the deepest layer without realizing they were already stuck in the bigger web. It’s honestly awe-inspiring and I would not be able to recreate it in a thousand years. What I can do, however, is counteract it.”
“Please, by all means. Does that mean we should then take the right pathway instead?”
Kimi shook her head. “The right pathway might be the correct route, the left pathway might be the correct route, that I could not tell you. But if we follow the magic and counteract it, we can at least see what happened to those who went into this place before us, and save them.”
“A noble prospect, but are you certain you can counter the magic?”
Kimi nodded. “I am.” She wasn’t. But she was confident enough that she liked her odds. And she would feel much better about this dive into danger if she could meet up with Mirgia.
“Then we go left. Having more fighters that will hopefully help us in this dive will be a boon.” He smiled.
With Kimi in the lead – her flute in hand – the party descended the left pathway until they encountered two people.
“You need to get out of here right now,” the smallfolk woman said. “It’s dangerous further in.”
“Easy child, things will be alright now that we’re here.” Danil put his hand on the woman’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes until she calmed down a bit. “My name is head priest Danil, and we are here to help. We are followers of Owlana who are looking for an artifact in this dungeon. Now tell us who you are and what is going on so we can help each other out.”
The woman took several deep breaths before she spoke, the large adventurer behind her staying quiet throughout. “I’m Doroly and this is Jom. We went in with a small group after a strange insectoid creature attacked the camp. When we came upon a room with strange magic that seemed to be powered by music we tried to counteract it by destroying the instruments they were holding. When that succeeded, we traveled through the room, only for the music to suddenly start again. The rest of our party is now stuck in a strange dance of sorts they can’t seem to get out of. The room was already filled with other people who were caught in the trap, some still alive, some fully decomposed. Jom and I were the only ones to make it out of the trap but due to Jom’s hurt ankle it’s been a slow walk back.”
The man behind her nodded. Kimi could now see that he was standing a bit awkwardly, leaning on one leg instead of both of them.
“Well fear not, child,” Danil said, “as luck would have it, we have brought a powerful spirit of music alongside us.”
Kimi smiled. “I am confident that I can deal with this trap, although it will be a tricky endeavor.” 

Standing on the precipice of the room that was doused in old magic, Kimi’thania let the light of her instrument dance along her arms as soft notes came out of it. Her visage turned into a ball of light as she transformed into her most primal form, the way she truly looked when none of her glamor magic was applied. Only in this form could she access her most powerful magic and she would rather not do this in front of strangers, but with how intricately woven the spell she needed to counter was, she had no choice. She needed to find where exactly it was located in the room so that she could break the source of it, but with how thick the magic was, it was hard to locate the source. The light faded and Kimi was now in her primal form. A body humanoid in some ways, but alien in others. Her face was as tall as the rest of her body combined with eyes the size of kitchen plates. Where normally a pupil and iris were, was just a constantly moving and twisting series of musical notes. Her hands wove skillfully through the air as she accessed magic that belonged to her and her family for generations, plucking notes from nothingness as the song she needed to solve this problem came to her.
It was an old song, one she’d heard her grandma sing only once. It was meant specifically to counter magic that was not visible to the eye but only touchable by music. The notes she so expertly sent into the sky would roam the room around her making for a kaleidoscope of colors. The priests, Doroly and Jom could do nothing but stare at the entire endeavor in awe. So drawn in were they to Kimi’s performance that the magic that would have otherwise compelled them to dance until death could not grasp them. Kimi saw Mirgia among the dancers and wavered for a moment, scared for his safety, before she steeled her resolve and sent a barrage of energy into the room, smashing everyone living and dead into the walls as gusts of wind started disrupting the musical notes in the room. Suddenly the movement of magic allowed her to trace it back to the source. A magical circle set into the ceiling at the far end of the room was causing everything. She took a dagger from Doroly’s belt and placed it suspended in the air in front of herself, with the point aimed at the magic circle. With a high pitched noise it shot through the air and straight into the center of the magic circle, deafening the room.

Hi friends. When I started writing chapter 9, I hadn’t fully worked out what to do for chapter 10 yet, so I introduced Kimi to the story again, which was always the plan. It wasn’t until after I finished that chapter and started writing this one that I realized a much better way to introduce her. So you’ll find that reading the chapters in the order I’ve posted them doesn’t work out very well. In the next draft, chapter 9 and this chapter (chapter 10) will be flipped. That way it will make much more sense when reading it – at least I think. For now I’ll leave things as is, since most people have already read chapter 9 anyway.

“Hold.” Something seemed to have disturbed Jom greatly as his voice trembled while he said this. They had just rounded a corner and now there was a faint bit of light in the distance. Not only that, after Jom told them to stop and they all listened intently, they could hear music coming from up ahead. “Roal, can you move your lights a little bit ahead of us?”
Roal nodded and slowly walked to the front of the group, moving the lights even further ahead. It was hard to look past the lights despite them not being super bright, but it looked like something was moving ahead of them.
“My eyes are better in the dark than most of your eyes, should I move on ahead and see what is going on?” Mirgia suggested.
“I don’t like it,” Quint said. “You’d be on your own if something happens until we can close the distance.”
“I’m quick and quiet, I should be alright.”
They all looked at each other as if waiting for someone to come up with a better plan but no one did so they eventually agreed.
“Here, let me do this for you,” Roal said. He reached out and plucked one of the lights from the air before affixing it to the inside of Mirgia’s sleeve. “This way it’ll move with you, but you can also keep it hidden so that whatever is in there doesn’t notice you.”
Mirgia nodded. “Thank you friend.” He then pulled the hood over his head and darted into the shadows. The source of the light was still quite a ways away and although he could see better than the humans in the group, he couldn’t exactly see well in the dark either. And besides that, the kind of darkness he was used to was one where the moon was out above the canopy and some of that light would still trickle in through the leaves. Here in an underground tunnel he was more out of his element than he would like to admit. Still, he pressed on, using the tiny bit of light from the spell that Roal cast to keep his path lit. After a short dash he reached the end of the tunnel they were in and pushed his back against the side, looking into the room ahead of him. What he saw there was nightmarish. Two large dinner tables were set up with plates and glasses on them, but no food or drink was anywhere. A strange mix of people were in the room moving, dancing and eating food that wasn’t actually there. One of the people was playing a piano in the corner which explained the music. But what made the sight so nightmarish was the fact that the people there were all at different levels of decay. It looked like a handful were still alive, dancing while having a pained smile on their face, while others looked like rotting corpses and others still were reduced to nothing but their skeleton. Still, all of them moved around and seemed to be in some state of animation. It was terrifying yet Mirgia felt tempted to join them. He hesitated, wanting to step a little bit closer to explore. What could it hurt to do so, right? He would get more information that way. He was about to take a step forward when a hand grabbed him from behind and dragged him back. Stunned, he didn’t fight the rough treatment and a few moments later he found himself tossed roughly against the ground, a terrified Sereh clinging to his arm. “What were you about to do?” She asked him, her voice shaky.
“I was going to check things from a little closer,” he trailed off at the end of the sentence. “Oh no, I was about to be lured into their trap, wasn’t I?”
Sereh nodded. “I’m glad I followed my gut and came after you, whatever magic is in there is a powerful charm that almost took hold of you.”
“Then I owe you for treating me roughly.”
She smiled. “It’s the least I could do.” Her face turned serious. “Let’s go back to the others and move back a little bit to discuss what to do next, I’m worried that the closer we stay, the more likely we fall for the magic. The only reason I followed after you was because I was feeling a strange pull all the way back there. The others have already retreated a little bit.”
Mirgia nodded and the duo quickly went back to the others, although Mirgia couldn’t help but look over his shoulder once more before they turned the corner.

“So what next?” Jom asked. He seemed to be more worried than most of them about the room that was described. He sat next to his brother and was drinking from his waterskin.
“I think we should head back and go the other route,” Mirgia said. “Not to say that the other route is safer than this one, of course, but unless we have a good way to deal with this trap, I’d rather not walk into this and lose my sanity.” He was perturbed by how quickly he fell into the trap earlier and did not like the feeling one bit.
“But you were the one who wanted to investigate it more properly earlier.” Roal brought up.
He was right, Mirgia thought. It was a fascinating bit of magic that felt ancient and alien, and knowing more about it would make him better prepared for what else came their way.
“Maybe you’re right. But we still need a plan.” He failed to recognize that he was leaning towards pressing on again without intending to. “How do we counter the music?”
“I think the music is a red herring,” Sereh commented. She had been quietly staring off into the hallway since they went back. He had her to thank for not already being stuck there. “It felt like there was something else that was drawing me in, maybe the food and drinks are the real reason the people get stuck there. Perhaps if we can get through the room and deal with the skeletons that are playing the music, then we can move on safely if we just don’t touch anything else.”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion, but it felt off. What if the music wasn’t a red herring to begin with, and the music would take hold when they stepped into the room.
“I suggest we go in one at a time,” Doroly said. “That way if one of us gets caught in a trap, we can return.”
“But that would condemn one of us,” Roal countered. “I am not about to let myself fall into a trap and I would assume the same holds true for the rest of you.”
They all stayed silent, knowing he was right.
“What if we take out the undead that are playing the music from a distance? Wouldn’t that stop the magic completely?” Quint suggested. “I know arrows aren’t the most effective against a skeleton playing music, but perhaps I could destroy the instruments from a distance and that way we can move through the room safely.”
“I like that plan,” Mirgia said. He looked at the bowman. “Can you do it?”
He nodded. “If someone accompanies me and makes sure I don’t get distracted by the magic while making the shot, I can confidently hit a target at that distance. And even if I miss, we can just try again.” He added, “unless it angers the moving corpses.”
Mirgia considered that. “I think we’ll be fine, approaching them didn’t change anything, so unless we actively harm them, I doubt the magic will let them change what they are doing. And I hope that if we get rid of the actual magic, the corpses will return to their natural unmoving state.”
Jom wasn’t convinced. “There’s a lot of possibility for this to go wrong. I still think I prefer Mirgia’s suggestion to check out the other tunnel first.”
Mirgia knew that Jom was right, and it had been his suggestion in the first place, but something inside of him prevented him from agreeing with the reasonable fighter. Instead he leaned more towards Quint’s idea.
“Let’s try shooting the instruments first. If that fails, we can backtrack to the other hallway, how does that sound?”
Jom nodded his agreement, but didn’t look too happy about it.

Quint, Sereh, Doroly and Mirgia all moved up. Sereh had already proven keen at keeping the magic at bay when she stopped Mirgia from walking into the trap earlier and Doroly was a veteran and would be more cautious than most of the others. Quint was true to his word and his aim was perfect. After Mirgia’s keen eyes pointed out where he had to point the arrow, he let it fly and moments later it crashed into the wood of the violin that was being played. Quint rapidly readied another arrow and shot the corpse sitting behind the piano. The music faded and eerie quiet filled the space.
“I think that did the trick, did it not?” Doroly asked.
Mirgia nodded. “Looks like it. Let’s get the others but let’s not be too hasty. We’ll carefully approach and see what the corpses are doing.” He squinted. “From where we’re standing I can’t see any movement.”
They retrieved the rest of the party except for Jom, who wanted to stay behind. In case everything went wrong, he could return to the camp and warn the next party to go in here.
Mirgia led the group. The strange pull that he felt before had gone, and he was now confident that the music was the source of the magic. Stepping into the beautiful room was a strange experience, now with the corpses and unmoving adventurers – who probably still had a chance of being alive – all standing completely still, like mannequins. Mirgia walked up to one of the people, a young man looking to be no older than twenty. He had an empty scabbard at his side and a wicked grin on his face. Mirgia moved his hand in front of the boy’s face but the eyes stayed fixed on some point in the distance. Meanwhile Quint picked up the destroyed Violin. “I think we did it.”
Mirgia nodded, looking for a way out of the room. This place gave him the creeps and although he wanted to save the people stuck here, his gut told him not to linger. They could probably deal with it later. He spotted a closed door in the back.
“I’ll go get Jom,” Doroly said, as Mirgia went to investigate the door.
Mirgia looked at the door which had an intricate set of symbols on it that he didn’t recognize. A puzzle of sorts? He motioned Roal to come over, as he was the most experienced with this sort of stuff, and Sereh joined them too. Suddenly a panicked feeling rose from his gut to his head and his body shuddered. “The trap,” he yelled, but he was too late. Suddenly, without any instruments still able to be played, the music continued. Mirgia turned around and saw Jom and Doroly approaching. “Quick, go back, get help.” He started to run in the direction of the exit but could feel control of his body loosening. “Find someone who can dance and sing and be merry with us. Oh won’t you please come join us here and partake in this feast.” His body started dancing. He silently cursed himself for not being more careful, but there was nothing to do now as he started dancing along the tables, grabbing Sereh by the hand and jumping on top of one of the tables to dance among the plates. He saw Jom grab Doroly by the shoulder and retreat. Good.

Captain Arios had a worried look on his face. Dealing with mercenaries and members of the Sahilid order was well within his skillset and he’d dealt with some strange folks over the years. Being confronted by the holy order of Owlana was a different story. Not to mention they seemed to be accompanied by a powerful spirit. Things were tense for him as the priest sitting opposite of him finished his explanation. The group sitting in front of him, all orderly and quiet, consisted of seven priests, the head priest and the spirit. “Thus, by declaration of the Lady of Knowledge, we will take control of this camp and lead an expedition into the ancient dungeon. I appreciate your understanding.” The priest had introduced himself earlier as head priest Danil, before launching into a long story about how they came to hear about this place and what their deity told them to do here.
The captain scratched his chin covered in stubble, which was slowly turning into a full on beard. “You understand that this request comes as a bit of a surprise to me, right? I am here on orders of the emperor of our great nation of Severanti to ensure that our people safely and successfully figure out what exactly is going on here. The law states that we can claim any found treasure as our own. Having to then hand it over to the church is not going to go over well with my men, you understand the predicament right?” He crossed his arms and looked at the priest, a middle aged man with a receding hairline.
The head priest nodded. “Of course I understand the predicament, and I wish for an amicable resolution to this quandary. Any treasure found within this dungeon that is of no significant value to our Lady will be yours to keep, but I say this knowing full well that those things with the highest value will likely not fall into that category.”
Captain Arios smiled. “I appreciate your honesty in this matter, although it does not change the problem, at least it lets us discuss things properly.” He looked over at the spirit, who looked like a young girl if not for the fact that some of her features were much sharper and stranger than those of any regular young girl. “Spirit whose name I do not know, may I presume you are here on orders of the holy order of Owlana as well?”
The spirit looked up at the captain. “I am the spirit of music, Kimi’Thania. You can call me Kimi. I came here to investigate this place when I found out it might have ties to a spirit of music that lived a very long time ago.”
Why is she lying? When he first heard about her, it was due to a scuffle with some of his men. He then heard about her again from Mirgia, who just headed into the dungeon earlier that day, and from what he said it seemed like something completely different was going on. She would have only just arrived in the region a couple days prior. He thought for a moment, but didn’t think it wise to call out the discrepancies in her story. He would speak with her later. Dealing with the priest was going to be enough of a headache on its own. Letting out a deep sigh, he answered the priest’s request. “Look, my job here is to keep things from getting out of hand. If arguments break out between your party and my men, I will do what I can to mediate, but anything that is found and taken from the dungeon before you get there is out of my jurisdiction. I would ask that you act in understanding that the men and women who have already journeyed into this strange place do so at risk of life and limb.”
“So a group is already inside?” Kimi asked. She seemed eager to learn more.
Arios nodded. “A few of my own men are joined by some locals as well as an elven fellow who showed up the other day.” He purposefully withheld MIrgia’s name for the time being.
Kimi’s surprise didn’t go unnoticed although she seemed to attempt to cover it up quickly.
“Either way,” he continued, “could you give me the benefit of the evening to consider what to do from here on out? We’ll reconvene in the morning and I’ll have my answer at the ready. Until then you are of course free to use one of our tents as well as the mess tent.”
Priest Danil looked as if he wanted to argue, but then held his tongue and nodded. “I understand that we arrived very suddenly and the laws of this land do not prohibit your Sahilid from raiding for artifacts ahead of time, but the relationship between the church of Owlana and the emperor of Severanti is one of mutual respect, I would hate for that to be broken. But keeping that in mind, I will take you up on your hospitality and take my rest. It’s been a long day on the road after all.”
“By all means, make yourselves at home. As long as you are in my camp, you are under my protection.” He reached out his hand.
The head priest hesitantly shook it, then smiled. “I appreciate it.”

“You wanted to talk?” Captain Arios asked. He had just finished cleaning his gear and preparing his bedroll and went for a stroll around the perimeter of the camp before going to bed.
The spirit that accompanied the priest and his party had been hovering around him for the past hour, seemingly debating if she should go up to him or not. Getting tired of the movement in the corner of his eye, he’d walked up to her.
“You said something about an elven traveler?”
He nodded.
“Just out of curiosity, did you catch his name?”

He held his silence for a few moments before replying. “If I answer your question, will you tell me what is really going on?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, but he could see the doubt in her face. She was hiding something.
“Then I have no obligation to tell you the names of the people I sent into the dungeon. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll return to my tent.” He started to walk away before she called out to him.
“Wait.”
He turned around expectantly. She looked around the area nervously for a few moments. “Something strange is going on. I only got here the other day.”
Arios nodded. “Mirgia said something similar, about being teleported here after falling into a strange trap.”
Kimi’s eyes lit up. “So Mirgia is here after all?”
“He is, he’s one of the people who went into the dungeon.”
Kimi waited for a moment before nodding. “Very well, I’ll tell you what I think.” She sat down on the ground, crosslegged and Arios felt obliged to do the same.
“So when I woke up after falling into a similar trap that it seems Mirgia fell for, I found myself being harassed by some mercenaries. They wore similar attire to yours.”
Captain Arios nodded. “Sahilid mercenaries, we’re part of the same group, although I suspect they didn’t treat you well.”
“That’s one way to put it. After putting them all to sleep, I went on my way to search for a way home, when I ran into Danil and his group. He told me that they were going into this dangerous dungeon soon and would love to have the blessing of a spirit. I told him I would consider it but honestly I wasn’t convinced. When I stayed in their camp, I saw one of his men do something that gave me pause. I won’t go into details, but I think either they are pretending to work for Owlana, or part of their group is not who they say they are. I decided to stick around to find out more and I’m glad I did, knowing Mirgia is here too.” She sighed. “Have you heard of anyone else who was sent to this region unexpectedly?”
Arios shook his head. “I only spoke with Mirgia and heard reports about you, but I didn’t think much of it. Mirgia was sent here and arrived in the nearby village of Redsan. From there on out he came with Doroly, who is an adventurer that I had heard of before, and after two of my men got wounded by a creature that came out of the dungeon he promised he would help out the group that went into the dungeon, mainly to protect the nearby village.”
“That sounds like him. I hope he’s alright in there.”
“There’s some good people accompanying him, at the very least he should have a fighting chance to deal with whatever they might encounter in that strange dungeon.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m curious how these priests will do in the same situation, but I should be relatively safe. I have learned some pretty useful magic tricks throughout the years.”
“Can I ask you a favor then?” Captain Arios asked.
“That depends, what would you ask of me?”
“I don’t like the way these priests force their rights upon us. As if they own the dungeon or something, pushing us aside. Would you keep an eye on them while you’re in there and make sure that everyone gets out of there safely?”
Kimi considered the question for a few moments before replying. “Isn’t forcing your way into this dungeon and pushing aside others kind of what you are doing?”
A long pause filled the space, Captain Arios being unsure how to respond to that. Finally, Kimi broke the silence again. “Either way, I would like for everyone to make it out unscathed, so I will see what I can do.”
After Kimi had gone to bed, Captain Arios found himself sitting in front of his tent, still awake, staring into the fire. It’s not like the things that Kimi said to him were incorrect or were particularly new to him, but it was definitely a bad feeling to be seen the same way as someone that feels like a threat to the public safety. Maybe the system wasn’t as sound as the people thought. He let out a deep sigh and fell onto his back, staring at the stars after the blinding light from the fire left his eyes. Maybe it was time to find a new job. One that required less people skills than this one.

I have been a bit under the weather lately, so I would like to give a heads up in advance. I was ahead on chapters for a while, but I finished today’s chapter just the day before posting it. I hope to finish chapter 9 by next week, but if not, we’ll take next week off. Apologies in advance and thank you for your continued support

Doroly returned two days later, with four villagers in tow. One of them was Teddy. He had volunteered to be in charge of keeping the camp fed and working properly. Despite his worry for the smallfolk farmer’s safety, Mirgia was happy to have the jolly spirit among them. Of the other three, two would help out Teddy and the last person would actually come with Mirgia, Doroly and the small group of Sahalid that had been selected. Raol, as the man was called, was a smallfolk mage. Trained in the specialized arts of his people, he would be able to provide them with many tricks and cantrips as well as some very potent healing magic. Of the Sahilid camp, four would come along with them. Captain Arios would stay in camp, his position as an overseer requiring him to keep things civil. As the plan had been carefully constructed by the men, several of the Sahilid present had already shown their discontent for the more organized structure of this mission, wanting to go in on their own terms. One party of three men ignored all warnings and went into the dungeon last night. No one had seen any sign of them since, so they were presumed dead.
The four Sahilid selected were all veterans and all of them were well into their thirties and forties, wearing the scars of their experience proudly. The two brothers Lym and Jom were these broad shouldered humans with deep suntanned skin that looked serious at all times, but weren’t unfriendly when spoken too. They wore thick layers of armor and had these large shields on them. Their specialty – as Mirgia would be able to guess without asking – was to be at the front of the group and hold off whatever came at them. Sereh was a tall, lanky woman with an affinity for magic. Her skill with telekinesis was apparently well respected throughout the empire, although Mirgia had never heard of her. She seemed like the nervous sort, reminding him a bit of Mana, but the man accompanying her, a bowman named Quint, assured Mirgia that she was more than capable. Quint was the friendliest of the lot, making small talk with the people he didn’t yet know. All together they were a party of seven which was a little bit too large for Mirgia’s liking, but he did appreciate having a solid front line that would protect them from imminent danger.
With Teddy’s help and some quick thinking on the farmer’s end, they had a pack of provisions ready, including some tools and things that he had brought from town. The man was endlessly clever in the things he prepared ahead of time. Raol would carry most of their burden, as most of his skills were useful outside of a fight, so he wouldn’t be hindered by it too much.
Mirgia, Doroly and Roal were to be at the center of their marching order with Lym and Jom up front as Sereh and Quint covered their rear. Having checked everything they needed, the two brothers stepped into the dungeon. Mirgia followed and shuddered as he stepped through the threshold. His elven senses immediately told him that they were no longer in the desert near Redsan. That or they were on the other side of some sort of magical barrier that changed the climate. “You feel that?” He asked Quint?
The bowman nodded. “Strange business afoot. Lym, everything good up front?”
“Nothing yet, just a hallway.” Quint turned to Raol. “Can you give them some light?” he asked the smallfolk mage.
Raol nodded and took a strange metal contraption from his side. It looked like a book but when he opened the clasp it changed form into what looked almost like a mechanical spider. Raol fiddled with one of the spider’s legs before it suddenly extended and protracted into several red hot needles that melted in place. The needles each dropped a bead of metal onto the floor, which stayed there for a moment before taking shape and changing color into a bright blue. The blue blobs of light then floated up from the ground and Raol willed them to sit atop the shoulders of the two men near the front, with another flying to Raol’s own shoulder and the final two moving to Quint and Sereh, the latter flinching as it reached her. “They’ll be warm to the touch, but nothing beyond what your skin can handle, so don’t worry. They use air to stay alight, so if you need to get rid of them quickly, fully cover them with your hand or some fabric.”
“Neat trick,” Quint commented, poking at the small blob of lit metal.
“Neat tricks are my specialty,” Raol grinned. “They should last a couple of hours, but I can renew them twice more today.”
“That’s good to know.” Quint looked at Lym and Jom. “Lead the way.”
The initial hallway led on for a good ten minutes at their slow and careful pace. Seemingly carved from some type of sandstone, the hallway was wide enough for two people to walk side by side without too much issue and seemed to be sloping downward as they went on. Eventually it widened out into a square chamber of about five meters. Two passages went deeper into the dungeon, opposite of where they entered the chamber from. A raised dais stood at the center of the room with writing inscribed on it. Lym walked up to it and shrugged. “Not a script I’m familiar with,” he remarked. “It looks somewhat similar to the elven alphabet, but it’s not the same.” He looked over at Mirgia and Raol. “Either of you familiar with the script?”
The two walked over. Mirgia recognized the script but couldn’t read it. He had seen it before, but had no interest to learn the old language.
“It’s ancient Venorian,” Roal said.
Mirgia was impressed. “I’m surprised you’ve heard of it, that’s a long dead language and culture.”
Roal smiled. “I’ve done quite a bit of studying in my time, but unfortunately I also cannot read this script.”
“So we know absolutely nothing then,” Doroly commented.
“That’s not necessarily true,” Roal said.
“What do you mean?” Mirgia asked.
“Well, for starters, knowing that the writing here was done by someone who knew the ancient Venorian language gives us some idea about where this place comes from. I doubt there are many survivors of a fallen kingdom running around, so that makes it more likely that this place was built a long time ago but suddenly appeared here. It’s also a little ways away from where Venoria was historically located.”
Mirgia nodded. Venoria was a kingdom of scaled people, draconic beings that were distantly related to the dragons of legend. The story of their fall was well known, as they were at odds with a flying kingdom helmed by serpentfolk. The two races couldn’t stand each other and when the kingdom of Venoria stole the holy animals of the city kingdom of Kanarth, an all out war broke out that eventually destroyed both nations.
“But more importantly,” Roal continued, “if I know what language it is, I can use some of my magic to read it.” He produced a rolled up piece of parchment from his pack and started reading it. While Roal was immersed in his scroll, Quint and Lym investigated the two hallways leading away from here, both making sure not to step into them in case something strange would happen. They looked for footsteps and traps. They found the former, but no sign of the latter. The footsteps they did find were quite fresh. “Probably those who were impatient and went in against the wishes of the captain,” Lym commented. Quint agreed with the assessment. “But how do we know which of the ways is best, if they’ve gone both ways?”
Lym pointed at some scorchmarks in the ground. “Didn’t the creature’s blood leave behind strange marks too? The one that came out of the dungeon?”
Mirgia walked up and looked as well. “I think you’re right. That means it retreated into the left passage.”
“What does that tell us?” Quint asked.
“Not much, but I hope Roal can tell us some more.” He looked back to the smallfolk mage who finished his incantation. The scroll shriveled into a small little ball and fell to the ground. Roal’s eyes looked strange and when Mirgia found himself staring into the man’s eyes, he realized he could see letters and numbers scrolling around the man’s irises at rapid speeds.
“How does that work?” Lym asked.
“When someone writes something, the text is imbued with meaning, regardless of what sort of script they use to write it. This spell allows you to look past the written language into the intent of the message.”
“Oh,” Lym said, not convinced. “So what does it say?”
Roal looked at the text and Mirgia could see his pupils grow and shrink as his eyes tried to focus on something beyond the words. Then he read the message out loud.
“At the discretion of the highest order of the Na’s temple in Venoria, we warn any who travel into this tomb to do so at grave risk to their own safety as for what lies hidden deep within is something of power great enough to turn away any who would seek to find it.”
“Ominous,” Jom commented.
“But is it enough to stop us from exploring deeper in?” Quint asked.
“I don’t think so. I would say it gives us cause to be cautious, but we already were,” Mirgia said. He looked at the smallfolk, whose eyes were still strange and alien. “Does it say anything about which path to take?”
Roal shook his head. “Just a warning that this place is dangerous.”
Mirgia thought for a while. Na was one of the two creator gods, alongside Nera. It was said that both deities were one soul split into two that would coalesce and diverge at times, turning each of the two entities – chaos and harmony – into different versions of themselves, to allow for a neutral creation of the world. Few sects nowadays actively worshipped the duo as they did not interfere with the world of mortals at all, leaving that task to the Arpentara. But many of the ancient kingdoms probably still had worshippers to the creators. The Arpentara were ancient beings even by elven standards, but there was a time before they existed. He had no idea if any of that information was relevant to the problems at hand, but it was always good to keep information given freely at hand. You’ll never know.
“I suggest we go right,” Sereh said. “No real reason, it just feels correct.”
Mirgia looked at Lym and Jom who both shrugged. “I prefer picking a random hallway over splitting up, so unless someone has a better idea,” Lym said.
“Let’s go into the right pathway then,” Quint said, and none disagreed.

Crawling out of the dungeon entrance came a monstrosity that would likely haunt the present soldiers’ dreams for centuries to come. Though that would only be the case if they were able to dodge its fangs bearing down on them. Mirgia was quick to react, having felt like something was wrong about a second before the creature appeared. It had both fangs and mandibles, making for a strange latticework in front of its insectoid facial features. It was about the size of a human walking on all fours, with a bright green exoskeleton. Sharp points and joints painted a hostile figure and shiny eyes were looking around rapidly. Mirgia’s bow was in his hands as the creature bore down on the first guard, but he was too slow to prevent anything. The second guard at the entrance – the friendly older man – was quicker than Mirgia and Doroly were. With a mighty leap he slammed into the creature’s side, pushing it off balance. The younger guard managed to slip away and regain his composure before grabbing his sword and shield. It was at that point that Mirgia’s first arrow flew through the air and hit the creature perfectly in the head. Except where Mirgia thought it’d fell the creature at once, it simply bounced off the hard exterior. He cursed and slung his bow back over his back, taking a hunting knife from his belt and dashing towards the creature. Sounds came from the camp nearby as people started realizing something was wrong.
The creature rapidly moved its head around, looking at the different people around it. The older guard had taken a few steps back, blood pouring from a wound where he impaled his arm on one of the creature’s spikes. The younger guard’s training kicked in and he started circling the creature, sword and shield at the ready. The creature dashed at him mandibles and fangs colliding with the steel buckler of the young soldier. He held strong and took two slashes at the creature, one bouncing off its tough exterior, but the other finding a joint in its arm and seemingly doing some damage, as the creature shrieked out in pain and took a step back. It then changed direction to go at the older guard, who looked like an easier target with the damaged arm. The guard held up his shield to defend himself and was promptly shoved backwards by the force of the creature’s pounce. A terrifying mouth opened up larger than should be possible and bore down on him.

“No you don’t,” Mirgia yelled, barreling into the creature like the older guard had done just before. He’d spotted most of the spikes and hard points as he approached and was able to avoid hurting himself too badly. He did feel a sharp pain just under his knee but he ignored it. His knife found purchase in the creature’s arm joint and with the same crack you’d hear when opening up a lobster or a crab to take out its meat, the creature’s arm went limp. It let out a strange sound that Mirgia took for a whimper before slamming Mirgia into the ground, the air leaving his lungs. As he struggled to get back up, Doroly came charging in, low to the ground with her sword arcing upwards. The creature reared back and threw its damaged arm in front of itself to protect the rest of its body. Doroly hit the joint and the weapon effortlessly pushed through the cartilage that was holding it together, separating it from the rest of the creature. Green blood splattered over her and Mirgia and the creature roared. Her sword continued and slashed at its stomach, which seemed to be a weak point. At this hit, the creature hesitated for a moment, and as it spotted the rest of the Sahilid approach from the nearby encampment it let out a final roar before quickly turning and dashing back into the dungeon, vanishing in the darkness. Silence filled the sandy desert, green blood seeping into the red ground.

Mirgia was applying his new bowspring to his bow as the previous one had snapped when he hastily put his bow away during the scuffle. Captain Arios had summoned Mirgia, Doroly and the two guards that fought the strange creature to his tent, to discuss what had just happened. Everyone was nervously sitting in their chairs while Garath –  the older gentleman – explained what he saw. Arios had ordered several of the other members of camp to guard the entrance. Some of them complained as although he was there to preserve orders and not to command them, they eventually relented when Arios stood on business and threatened to kick them out of the camp. Mirgia could see why he was given a role of authority amongst people who are so quickly to be in conflict with each other. He still didn’t understand the Sahilid’s strange hierarchy, but it seemed to work for them. “So if I’m understanding everything correctly,” Arios summarized, “an insectoid monster suddenly leapt out of the dungeon, started indiscriminately attacking people before retreating back into the dungeon after it took some damage and this,” he pointed at the severed arm of the creature, “is what we have left of it?”
Garath nodded. “That is correct sir.”
Arios took his dagger and slashed at the creature’s arm, the impact sounding almost like a clash between two swords. The arm came away without much damage, a shallow cut that didn’t breach the exoskeleton. “Our most pressing question then is to figure out how many of these creatures are in there. If it’s just one or two, then a well prepared party can take care of them with minimal losses. If this strange dungeon is teeming with them, then that’s a big problem.”
“I think there’s a more important question,” Mirgia said. He hadn’t spoken much but he’d been thinking about what just happened and what it meant.
“And what is that question?”
“If this dungeon appeared only recently, and we’re positive that the entrance was not here a little while ago, that means that it was either elsewhere and somehow transported to this place – which seems highly unlikely – or it was spawned out of nowhere which seems even more unlikely. The original idea that it might have been hidden under the ground and somehow appeared at the surface doesn’t hold much value if a living creature is inside of it, as they would have no way of surviving without food.”
“Not necessarily true,” Doroly said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s a chance that this dungeon, whatever it is, is connected to tunnels or something else underground, and that the creature could get food that way.”
“Either way,” Captain Arios interrupted the discussion, “what’s clear is that we know very little about this place and it’s more dangerous than we thought it would be.”
This they could all agree on.
“So what’s the plan?” Mirgia asked.
“Well, I will send a message back to Sar’Doth and the emperor, so we can perhaps get some back-up. In the meantime, I suggest you either return to town, or you help us investigate the entrance and see what we can find out. It’ll take weeks for back-up to arrive if the emperor deems it necessary. Worst case we wait for that long only to hear back that we have to figure it out ourselves.”
“Sounds like a caring leader,” Mirgia said.
Arios shrugged. “The nation is thriving under his rule, so people have tolerated his whims for a while now. Some of the older folks say this won’t last, but he’s won over the younger population quite efficiently.”
“And what is your opinion?” Doroly asked.
“On the emperor? He’s a powerful man with an impressive drive. If he continues on this path then Severanti will continue to be a prosperous empire.”
“But.” Mirgia added.
“But as good as his qualities have been until now, if he starts heading in a wrong direction at any point, there are no systems in place to stop things from going bad.”
“He’s a ruler with no one to tell him when he’s wrong,” Mirgia filled in the blanks.”
Arios nodded.
“Well, let’s hope that he won’t be wrong for a very long time,” Doroly said. She got up. “I’ll go back to Redsan and see if I can’t find some friends to back us up.” She looked at Mirgia.
“I’ll stay here, I want to keep an eye on the entrance here. Say hi to Teddy for me.”
“I will, I’ll return tomorrow.”

Mirgia and Doroly went to the location of the nearby dungeon on foot. Despite her smaller stature, Doroly was easily able to keep up with Mirgia’s larger strides. Mirgia had his bow slung over his back and a short sword at his belt. Doroly had a longsword on her belt. It was tucked in quite high to avoid it hitting the ground when she walked. She must be quite strong to be swinging that thing around, Mirgia thought to himself. 

They didn’t speak much during the walk. Mirgia was a man of few words and didn’t mind the quiet and it seemed like Doroly was used to walking along the road in silence as well. They made some conversation here and there, but not all that much. Eventually they reached what looked like their destination after about six hours of walking at a pretty good pace. Jutting out from the ground, a little ways away still, was a structure that looked alien to Mirgia. The way it was designed didn’t quite make sense to him, that much he could tell even at this distance. Between here and the strange structure was a camp set up and as they got close to it, a man stood up from his makeshift chair and approached the two.

“Hail travelers, what brings you here?”
Doroly stepped forward. “We’re here on behalf of some of the people of Redsan, to see what is going on. Talks of strange buildings appearing out of thin air has the townsfolk worried.”
The man smiled. “That I can imagine.” He reached out his hand. “Captain Arios Darfan. I have been given the thankless task of keeping an eye on the people here.”
“By whom?” Mirgia asked.
Arios looked him up and down. “You don’t look like a villager from Redsan.”
“Correct, I’m visiting from Milinia.”
The man smiled. “Then it’s no surprise that you’re unfamiliar with the way we work.” He motioned over to where he was sitting earlier. “Have a seat, I’ll get you up to speed.”
Mirgia and Doroly sat down.
“I didn’t catch your names,” Arios said, sitting back down in his chair. He was quite heavily armored and had a broadsword at his side.
“I’m Doroly and this is Mirgia.” She looked at the captain expectantly.
“Right, an explanation. Usually when us Sahilid take on a mission, things can be quite chaotic. In an attempt to avoid any bigger issues amongst the different members – as the glory goes to the person who solves the problem in the end – an enforcer is sent to each big endeavor. Our role is to keep things peaceful and to also assess who does what. We also mediate between members of the Sahilid and private mercenaries wherever that’s necessary.”
“Have you seen something like this before then?” Mirgia asked. “I can’t imagine enough major dungeons randomly being discovered that it requires a separate branch of mediators.”
Arios chuckled. “You would think so, but Severanti has long been a land plagued by mysteries. When the current Emperor took his throne, he soon made a habit out of actively searching for these dungeons. How he finds them regularly is his own secret, but it’s made for a lot of business to be had.”
This was all mostly news to Mirgia, the only thing he really knew about already was that the Emperor of Severanti was a bit of an oddball. It surprised him that they had kept so much of this so well hidden from their neighbors.

“Before we continue our discussion, I would like to know a bit more from you, friend elf.”
“What do you mean?”
Arios’ eyes narrowed. “With all due respect, it’s hard for me to believe that you are here without any reason, and then also choose to wander into our camp. Redsan is a quaint little village but it’s no vacation destination. I would ask you to be honest with me.”
Mirgia pondered the question for a bit. He then figured sharing some of the story couldn’t hurt. He told the man about how he and some friends – withholding who they were – ran into some trouble with a local cult. One of their magical circles then sent him flying across the continent, which is how he arrived over here.”
Arios listened intently, not interrupting him at all. When Mirgia finished he nodded. “Well, I am glad you were able to share this with me, for that means I have news for you.”
“Oh?”
“One of our companies might have run into a companion of yours the other day.”
Mirgia immediately sat up straight. He thought he’d been completely rational in his assessment of the situation, but he hadn’t considered that someone else might also be in the area. Perhaps Cobal and Mana were much closer than he thought.
“A young spirit got into conflict with some of my men the other day. After my colleague tried to mediate between them, things calmed down, but she has been hounding them relentlessly and will not leave them be. They’re supposed to meet us here, but they’re probably slowed down by her antics.”
Mirgia couldn’t help but grin. “That’s Kimi’Thania.”
“Oh, so you are acquainted?”
Mirgia nodded. “She was one of my companions before I was sent to this land. She has a long history with mages mistreating her, one of the people that clashed with her wouldn’t have happened to be wielding magic.”
Arios sighed. “Ladia, the commander of that group, is a talented spellweaver. She’s also been the one most receiving the ire of your spirit friend.” He looked at Mirgia. “Perhaps you can convince her to leave my people alone, it would be much appreciated.”
Mirgia nodded. “I’ll see what I can do, she can be quite hot-tempered.”
“You’re a strange one, Mirgia.” Doroly commented.
They all laughed.
A figure approached the captain and the two had a hushed conversation before Arios stood up. “I have some matters to attend to. You’re free to walk around the camp and see for yourself what is going on, just be aware that many of the people present are on edge due to the nature of an expedition like this. We’re not responsible for any problems they cause.” He smiled and walked off, leaving Mirgia and Doroly to talk among themselves.
“What do you think?” He asked the smallfolk mercenary.
“He seems nice enough, but something doesn’t sit right with me. It feels like the niceness is almost preventative, to soften the blow of the eventual trouble that will arise.”
Mirgia nodded. “I’m thinking the same thing. I’m sure our captain here will want to avoid any trouble with the locals, but it feels very much like he will prioritize his own people if such a thing were to happen. It reminds me of a concept Mana once told me about.”
“What is that?”
“Apparently in large companies in her world – similar to mercenary bands or armies here, but they sell products instead of raising armies – there will be a department that is in charge of the people it employs. One would assume they’re there to do what’s best for the people, but they’re always looking out for the company’s interests first. I think Captain Arios wants things to go smoothly, but if it comes to disorder, will protect his own people first and foremost, with us and the people of Redsan being secondary.”
“We best try and make sure no disorder arrives on our doorstep then,” Doroly said. “Let’s have a look around to see what we’re working with, before the sun goes down.”
Walking through the camp was a strange experience for Mirgia. He’d never been to an encampment like this before. Although many of the people there – all wearing Sahilid tunics that identified them as such – were talking amongst each other, there was a hostility in the air that someone with Mirgia’s senses was particularly susceptible too. He knew that these people were capable of snapping at a moment’s notice. He looked at Doroly at his side who seemed less tuned in to this feeling, but still on edge. Past the camp itself, Mirgia and Doroly walked up to the dungeon itself. Two guards stood in front of the entrance and stepped towards the duo as they approached.
“Halt, this dungeon belongs to the Royal Sahilid Legion,” the man said. A young human, probably not past twenty quite yet, and Mirgia sensed a hint of doubt in his otherwise demanding voice. Mirgia put on a bright smile. “We just spoke with Captain Arios, and he told us we’re free to have a look around.”
The young man looked surprised and seemed to have to think for a moment while his companion put his hand on his shoulder. “If the captain says it’s alright, then it’s alright Brihal.” He smiled at Mirgia. “Kids.”
“But the captain ordered us,” the man named Brihal started, but he was cut off by his companion. “I doubt our visitors here are planning to head into the dungeon itself, am I correct?”
Mirgia nodded his confirmation. “We’re just exploring the perimeter for now.”
“See, nothing’s going on, let them work while we keep an eye on the entrance.”
Brihal hesitated for a moment before agreeing. “Very well, but keep to the outside.”
Mirgia nodded and the two returned back to their post.
“Not sure I like someone so jumpy to be in charge of guarding something so important,” Doroly said.
“We all have to start somewhere, and I doubt it’s a coincidence they put him together with a more levelheaded companion.”
Doroly laughed. “You’re probably right.
Mirgia went to look at the structure. It appeared to be at least partially submerged into the ground, possibly a large part of it was underground, it was hard to guess. The structure was slanted as well, and about a third of the entrance was still buried. It was made out of what looked to be a crude sandstone of sorts, but it had a completely different hue from the red sand that was common here. He walked back to the two guards. “Did anyone see this thing when it appeared? I was wondering if it might have just come up from some sort of quake in the ground.”
The older man scratched his balding head. “If someone saw it, they haven’t told anyone. But tis a good theory, the captain said something similar.”
Mirgia nodded and walked to the far end of the structure. It seemed like there was very little to glean from just looking at the outside, if he wanted to know more, he’d have to go into the dungeon, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that. As he was pondering the question, he heard a scream from nearby.

Mirgia woke up face down in the hay. His alcohol tolerance wasn’t what it used to be and he drank quite a lot during the cookout the previous evening. The sun was already up and one of the cows walked over to sniff his hair when he sat up. “Good morning sunshine,” he said to the cow, who only mooed in reply before walking away.
Due to the odd landscape – the desert and savanna intersected with each other all around Redsan – the farmland was a little bit of a patchwork situation, where some areas were filled with cattle and crops, and others were empty or used to put storage buildings. Mirgia wondered how the farm was able to function when part of the land was so barren, but as he walked through the fields in hopes of finding Teddy, he understood that it barely functioned. It seemed like a lot of the crops that Teddy and the villagers tried to grow here only partially managed to survive, but the part that survived was enough to keep the village alive, it seemed.
He found Teddy and Birdie working together to shovel some hay into one of the feeding troughs for the cows. “Morning Mirgia, hope you slept alright,” Teddy grinned and reached for Mirgia’s face, which required him to stand on his toes and Mirgia to slightly bend down. “You got some hay on your cheek,” he said.
“That’s the downside of passing out in between the cows.”
“Well, I couldn’t very well send you on your way back to town with how much you’d drank.”
“I would have been fine.”
“Sure you would have, grab me that shovel over there, will ya?”
Mirgia grabbed the shovel and handed it to Teddy. “So what was that all about last night.”
“Those lovely women came by with a warning.”
“Did they threaten you?”
Teddy chuckled. “Nah, they wouldn’t dare do something silly like that, they’re regulars in the region. You don’t want to get kicked out of Redsan if you make your money in our backyard.”
“Makes sense, so you already knew them?”
Teddy nodded. “Not well, of course, but we’d spoken a few times in the past few years.” He sighed and stood up to face Mirgia, who was sitting on the ground next to him. “No, they came to warn us about what the Sahilid are up to.”
“Those royal soldiers?”
“Yessir, the very same.”
“And, what are they up to?”
Teddy’s eyes darkened, the ever present smile vanishing for a moment. “Apparently they uncovered a strange dungeon not far from here.”
Mirgia considered the statement. “Was it well hidden, this region is pretty well traveled after all.”
“That’s the strange part, the entrance was out in the open.”
“What do you mean?”
“A traveler simply stumbled upon it one day, it’s within eyesight of the main road.”
“And it’s a dungeon, not just a small building?”
“That’s what the women told me. So the Sahilid are surveying the area and planning to set up a base near Redsan. And that has me worried.”
“How so?”
“Well, the Sahilid aren’t exactly known for being the most patient and friendly neighbors. They can get quite rowdy and demanding, often saying that nearby villages should provide for the expedition while they’re in the area. It could be the start of a whole host of trouble.”
Mirgia pondered this for a bit. “You reckon I can be of help with any of that?” He asked.
Teddy shrugged. “No clue mate, but I appreciate the offer. We will try to be supportive of their endeavors, no need to ask for trouble when we can avoid it.”
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be kind,” Mirgia agreed.
“That’s the spirit.” Teddy stretched his arms before letting out a big sigh. “You free today?”
“I got nothing going on, why?”
“Doroly and Jason were pestering me that they wanted to talk to you more.”
“No wonder, with how much they drank last night they probably forgot most of what I told them.”
“Ha!” Teddy burst out into laughter. Wiping a tear from his eyes he added, “well if you have time and don’t mind, you can go wake them up.”
“I’ll get right on that.”

Despite Teddy’s remarks about their current state, Mirgia found the pair of smallfolk sitting at the kitchen table, chatting and relatively alert for people who drank that much the previous day. “I didn’t know smallfolk were so good at holding their liquor,” Mirgia remarked as he walked into the kitchen, half crouched to fit into the tiny house.
Jason smiled. “Years of experience and many cookouts will do that to you.”
“It seems I have much to learn.” Mirgia pulled out a small stool before changing his mind and instead sitting on the floor. That was a much better idea as he still reached the table with ease when doing so. “So you’re both feeling fine?”
“Well, let’s not exaggerate,” Doroly smiled. “Coffee?”
“Yes please.”
While Doroly got up to make another pot of coffee, Jason turned his attention to Mirgia. “So, you were saying you met the new hero, right?”
Mirgia nodded. “We traveled together for a short while.”
“What is she like?”
Mirgia smiled. “Kind.”
“That’s a good start.”
“She’s someone who struggles with anxiety a lot, but that has also given her a lot of compassion, as she knows what it’s like when people are struggling. That compassion shines through in moments of need and I think that quality is what will one day make her an excellent hero.”
“And how good of a fighter is she?”
“Not impressive in the slightest.”
“Huh? How can she be a hero if she can’t fight?”
“That’s what many of the people around her – myself included – also thought for a while. But not every hero has to be a powerful fighter to get things done. She already managed several incredible feats in the short time she’s been in our world.”
“Can you give some examples?” Doroly asked as she put a cup of coffee in front of Mirgia.
“Let me think.” He took a sip before quickly putting it back down.
“It’s hot,” Doroly said.
“So I’ve noticed.”
“During her short time in our world, Mana has saved a spirit from a magical prison that this spirit has been stuck in for decades.” Talking about Kimi made him wonder how she was doing, they were near each other when he was sent flying across the world after all. “She also managed to somewhat mend the relationship between Milinia and Blueyerd and she even did groundbreaking research into some more complicated magical problems that I probably shouldn’t be talking about to strangers.”
“I see. But does it really take a hero from another world to do all of that?” Doroly seemed a bit sceptical.
Mirgia shrugged. “I don’t know. But she did all of that. And she brings a perspective to a lot of things that’s so alien to a lot of the humans living in that young kingdom that they sorely need. After a few generations, they’ve gotten very complacent down there, which is part of why the bond with Blueyerd and Milinia had gotten so frayed. Maybe she can breathe some fresh air into their politics and fix some of the bigger issues they have. But it’s not my place to judge them.”
“You sound like you know a lot.”
Mirgia shrugged. “I was a guard in Milinia, but that also meant I ventured past the outskirts of our lands regularly and spoke with many people from the villages near our forest. The people there were rarely singing the king’s praises.”
“Sounds similar to our own country.”
“Not a big fan of the emperor?” Mirgia asked.
Jason and Doroly exchanged a look. “It’s complicated.”
“I’ve got time if you don’t mind sharing.”
After a pause Jason said. “Our current emperor Abu has been in charge for the better part of a century. Although his methods have been controversial at times, things have been relatively peaceful ever since he threw the previous emperor off a cliff.”
“That’s pretty intense. I have heard about how the previous emperor was deposed when I was younger. Apparently he wasn’t very loved by the people of Severanti.”
“That’s true. Things were pretty bad before Abu took over. But fixing some things doesn’t mean everything has been great. His attitude is very much that of survival of the fittest and he has little love for the common folk. Where the previous emperor would actively make life difficult for common folk in the way of exorbitant taxes and intimidation tactics, Emperor Abu mostly just leaves things as they are. Taxes are a lot lower, but we also don’t have to expect much love from the capital when things go wrong. If we’re lucky, the Sahilid don’t make things worse when they show up.”
“And now they’ve showed up here,” Mirgia filled in.
Jason nodded. “That they have.”
“Put me through your worries, what’s the worst that can happen with them here?”
“They’re usually a rowdy bunch. Very focused on finding whatever treasure they have their eyes on, without much regard for the people living there. If your land is in the way of their goal, then your land will be turned upside down as they pass through. And when they get what they want, the leave, leaving whatever problems they caused to be solved by others. It’s a selfish bunch.”
Mirgia scratched his chin, noticing he’d not shaven in a while. He wasn’t a fan of the stubble and would have to fix it soon enough. “Well, I suppose I should stay a little while longer then, to keep an eye on this nearby dungeon that appeared. Perhaps I’ll go check it out myself.”
“If you do, I’m coming with you,” Doroly said.
Jason let out a sigh. “You just got back recently and you already want to get yourself into trouble again?”
“You know who you married.”
“I do, I do.” He smiled. “As long as you’re careful, dear.”
“I always am.”
“Don’t lie to me, I know who I married.” He looked at Mirgia. “You make sure she’s not getting into any unnecessary trouble. Y’all should be fine checking out this dungeon, but no funny business getting into fights or going into this place without proper preparation.”
Mirgia nodded. “A quick scouting job and perhaps a conversation with the Sahilid. Should be more than enough for a start.”
“Good man.”
Mirgia looked at Doroly. “Want to wait till after lunch so the hangover gets a little bit less severe?”
She nodded. “You go get your things, I’ll pop by Yessep and then come pick you up.”
“See you in a bit.” Mirgia finished the rest of his coffee and made his way out of the home. He spotted Teddy off in the distance. “Teddy, got a moment.”
“For you? Always.” He put down his hoe and walked over. “What’s up?”
“Just letting you know that Doroly and I will be checking out the strange dungeon that popped up nearby today and tomorrow. We’ll let you know if you can expect any strangeness.”
“Alright, just be careful.” He was about to let Mirgia walk away before he called him back. “Wait here for just a moment, I got something.”
Teddy hurried into the home and came back with a strange looking contraption. “This thing right ‘ere is a beaut, lemme tell you.” He was holding a lantern of sorts, but from just the way it was intricately crafted, Mirgia could tell there was more to it. “This lantern belonged to my grandma, a real explorer who traveled so deep into the Feral Wildlands that people used to joke she’d circle the globe one day. This lantern can light your path, but if you change out the panels,” he showed a few glass panels that were stored in a small compartment at the bottom of the lantern, “you can use these to show you all sorts of interesting stuff. The green one creates a calming light that will make wild creatures less likely to attack you. The blue one lets you see traps and secrets and the yellow one will tell you if someone’s lying while they’re bathed in its light.” He handed it to Mirgia who was about to argue, “Now Mirgia, I’ve known you for all of two days but you seem like a great chap. When you return, I want this back. It’s on loan.”
Mirgia nodded. “Either this heirloom and I both return, or neither of us return.”
“That just means you ran off with it.” Teddy slapped him on the back and let out a hearty laugh. “But I know what you mean. Good luck out there, don’t step on too many toes.”
“Thanks Teddy.”
With that he was off, getting ready for an expedition that would prove much stranger and much more time consuming than he ever could have guessed.