Gordon answered on the first ring. “Levi! What’s going on, are you alright? Irene is going crazy with worry.”

“I’m in New York state, any chance you can hire an uber to pick me up? My account has been locked. I can pay you back.”

“Stay where you are, I’ll come get you. Where in New York?”

Levi resisted the temptation to hang up, to run away again. He had no idea who this person was, but… he needed someone, and Gordon was the closest thing to a friend Levi had right now.

He couldn't believe he was stuttering over the name of a town, more afraid of a person he knew in the past than of facing a horde of demons, but his voice trembled despite his best efforts to hold himself steady.

The wait was almost unbearable. How many times he nearly called and said 'never mind'; how many times he nearly ran off into the darkness, to disappear and never show his face.

But he couldn't keep running forever. Sooner or later, he'd need to get back to his family. He wanted to see them, so desperately. The fear of their rejection and the certainty that he would never have the strength to oppose them if they said he was crazy were the only things that held him back.

He knew there was a good chance Gordon would force him home. That getting in his car was the same as returning himself. But he couldn't quite admit that he wanted it anyway.

He needed them. Needed to be there for them, with them, not just a distant figure protecting them at a distance. He needed to see them, touch them, hold them.

If he could recruit Gordon to help him drive from dungeon to dungeon, that would be ideal. If he ended up shanghaied back home... he could live with that.

He tried to convince himself it would be fine.

It would be.

He'd be fine. Irene would be fine. Peter would be alive and safe and happy and Levi would never let him be hurt again.

Dawn broke, spilling golden light across the horizon, painting the clouds in peach and scarlet. It only reminded him of the stakes, the fire and death, the future he had to prevent at any cost.

He sat there for hours, his fears chasing each other around in his head, all his confidence and certainty useless against this unexpected attack. He'd thought he settled this all, thought he'd found his answers and certainty. But when it came right down to it he hadn't resolved anything, only put it off until later.

A silver Buick finally drove up beside him, slowing to a stop in the parking lot. A man stepped out, looking around, then made a beeline for Levi. He was tall but not exceptionally so, in crumpled slacks and a t-shirt with an expensive jacket over top, a hodgepodge of clothing Levi realized he must have thrown on in haste. It was the middle of the night when he'd called.

"I'm sorry," he said at once. "I shouldn't have—"

Gordon held up a hand and shook his head. "It's okay. Are you alright?" His eyes took in Levi's multiple tattered coats, and his leg armor, and his shoes of inhuman make. “You look terrible.”

Levi nodded, then shrugged, then shook his head, then looked away to fight back tears. No, he would not show weakness.

Gremlin Two poked his head around Levi's leg, staring at Gordon. Gordon jumped back, recoiling at the sight of the dungeon creature. He looked curiously up at Levi. "What is...?"

"Gordon, meet Gremlin Two. Two, meet Gordon. I don't actually remember anything about him, but he cares enough about me to drive all this way, so he must be a pretty good friend."

Gremlin Two sighed and crouched down on all fours, pretending to be a cat.

Levi choked out a laugh. "It's fine, you don't have to pretend."

Gremlin Two dusted himself off and stood, glowering up at Gordon.

"Uhh..." Gordon looked back and forth between the scrawny horned creature and Levi, then back. "I... what?"

"Gremlin Two is a dungeon creature. I'm a system warrior now, Tamer, actually, uhh... and I'm trying to prevent the apocalypse. Well, I don't think anything can prevent it. Alleviate, probably a better word."

"How about we talk it over on the way back," Gordon said. "Come and get warmed up." His gaze settled on Gremlin Two again. The uncertainty in his eyes only grew stronger.

Levi shrugged and followed him to the car.

"What... is he?" Gordon asked, as Gremlin Two crawled into the back and sat down on the floor.

"A gremlin."

"You've said that."

Gordon put the car into drive and started off back onto the highway.

"We need to go to Lexington. Kentucky."

Gordon looked at him sideways, then returned his attention to the road. "You realize how you sound right now?"

"Crazy, yes. But this is very real, and I've decided to try trusting you. If it turns out I can't, well, I have an empowered manablade now, so I'm confident I can fight my way out of any mental facility anyone tries to shove me into."

"Empowered manablade."

"Yes. It's the basic weapon of the realm, now that the age of technology is over and the era of magic is dawning." Could he have done this more subtly? Sure. But he found Gordon’s uncertainty oddly satisfying. And he had hours in which to explain the whole thing. If he could let out some tension by teasing Gordon, that wouldn’t bother him.

"Magic."

"Yes, magic. I'm a wizard now. You've already met my familiar, Two."

"What happened to One?"

Levi grinned. It was too perfect of an opening. "He's dead at the moment until I figure out how to revive him."

Gordon sighed. "If not for the fact that you clearly have some kind of strange mutant creature the likes of which I've never even heard of, I'd think you were off your rocker. Mind you, I'm still not at all confident you aren't."

"That makes perfect sense. It is reasonable to disbelieve the existence of dungeons until proven otherwise. However, it is also sensible to verify your facts before believing or disbelieving them." Then he hesitated. "I'm not actually a wizard, that was a joke. I probably shouldn't joke when things are going to sound equally crazy either way." He realized now that it might have been a good idea to rehearse his explanation rather than trying to make it up as he went.

He sent out a mana ping in case a dungeon could be found nearby. He knew they'd go by at least three on this route, but not the exact distances. It was hard to tell when driving.

Nothing yet.

"Could you start with what happened on the seventh? You were supposed to meet us at the bar, and just never showed. Then you have this... breakdown?"

Gordon glanced at Levi for a reaction, but Levi only shrugged. "That was the moment I met Skarm. One, as you call him. My first dungeon creature. And awakened to the System. Yes, that's really what it's called. Awakening. Very generic, we should file a complaint."

"Dungeon. Like in movies?"

"Not so much. More like... a quasi-intelligent monster-spawning factory in an alternate dimensional space. They can't be reasoned with or understood, but they clearly have some rudimentary strategic ability and adapt their layouts and creatures over time."

"Intelligent... alternate dimension... dungeon."

"I'll show you the next time we get near one." Levi sent out another ping. Still nothing. "For now, just assume that there are secret wormholes to dungeons full of monsters hidden all over the world."

"Like Harry Potter?"

"No, not at all."

"They have secret streets and magic buildings hidden where they shouldn't fit."

"Oh, right. I'd forgotten that. Sure, just like Harry Potter."

"But what does this have to do with your little friend back there?"

"The first time you come in contact with a System creature, you absorb a tiny amount of System energy. Or mana. Or... whatever it is we call it. It's had many names. We usually just say mana for ease of use, but it's not exactly the same as mana, which you use for spells, though it tastes the same—"

"Slow down a bit. I didn’t understand any of that."

Levi considered how to make it even simpler. "You become a level 1 person when you defeat your first dungeon creature. Once you do so, you can level up more by killing more dungeon creatures. Or demons, of course, but they won't be around for another few months."

Gordon didn't say anything, but took several loud deep breaths as if about to speak, then shook his head and did it again. A few times he opened his mouth, then shut it again.

"Once we find a dungeon, I'll be able to show you. That will make this all much easier to accept."

"You don't sound like a crazy person, but you sound like a crazy person. You know? Nothing you're saying makes sense, but you... you're too normal, and too off. There's something going on, clearly, but all this...?"

Levi pinged again, and this time sensed a dungeon at the far edge of his range. "Turn off at the next exit," he instructed. "There's a dungeon coming up. I can show you firsthand."