The impossibly black hole cut into a massive boulder that sat at the base of an ancient tree did not look like a thing that should be entered. Dan's lizard brain and every bed time story he'd ever heard agreed on this. Logically, it was dumb to even think of changing his mind because the dungeon entrance was intimidating - because he was scared of the dark. On the other hand, if RPGs were based on worlds like this, the symbolism couldn't be safely ignored. It was signage on the road - danger, do not enter here. He didn't doubt for a moment that everything here was real, in the sense that actions had consequence and death was permanent. Still, the parallels to RPGs were blatant. If this were a scripted RPG, with him as the protagonist, the blessed and chosen one, where was he at in the game? What was this telling him?

Dan had always had a bit of an interest in mythology. It wasn't a passion and he wasn't an expert or amateur scholar. But he'd read a few books through the years, picked through Wikipedia, watched a (mostly disappointing) documentary or two. If this was in some way a role playing game, then it was also a story. More specifically, it was probably a heroic myth. From what he remembered of the Hero's Journey or mono-myth theory, Joseph Campbell style, things were a bit out of sequence - he hadn't been given a chance to refuse the call for example - but did fit the basic pattern so far. He'd been given and more or less accepted the quest. Then he met a magical mentor (Ray), who gave him a magic MacGuffin (the Lonely Moonflower) that would help him later in the journey. The ominous black void before him would pretty clearly be the step in the journey "Crossing the First Threshold". That's where the hero takes the plunge from the known world into the world of danger, mystery, and power.

At first he thought that didn't make sense, that it was out of order because that happened back in the first chapter where the System cured his paralysis and gave him super powers. But none of that was his choice. To fit the mono-myth, he had to cross the threshold by his own will. Then, if memory served, he'd enter the Belly of the Whale and continue on to The Road of Trials. Those weren't fun parts of the story for the hero. That part of the story always sucked if you were the hero. The over the top foreboding symbolism of the scene struck him as almost precision engineered to direct his thoughts down this track. His first thought on seeing it had been of children's fairy tales. Don't go alone into the deep dark wood, where frightening eldritch things lurk to grab you. Concurrent with his first thought had been his first instinct on seeing it: This was a place of danger. But his reaction had not been only fear. There was also a tingle of excitement, a seductive pull to the unknown.

OK, so that was the scenario through the lens of myth. Look at it as a scripted RPG. He'd just passed the tutorial (the Initial Trial) and was now in the open world adventure portion of the proceedings. He had his great quest, and the road split down two paths. This was his last chance to turn back to the (more or less) known, safe world.

"You look like you're trying to crack a nut with your brain. What are you thinking about?"

The question broke Dan's analytic trance.

"The way the dungeon entrance looks, it's like the scene is set up. This might sound funny, but I think it might be a message from the System to me, personally. It's saying that while we can handle this, it will be dangerous, and we won't have an easy time getting back here to this world once we enter."

Ray hopped on a thick twig, cocked their head twice, and looked at Dan with a curious, intent expression. Or at least what Dan interpreted as such. Twilight raven body language remained a work in progress. He was working on it.

"Interesting. Very interesting. If this is your dungeon, I suppose it would not be a surprise if the entrance was somehow a message to you. But the message, if you hear it right, is curious. Dungeons don't tend to be drawn out affairs. Either you conquer them or they kill you. They are a matter of hours, or sometimes days. Exceptions exist. Now that I think on it, one marked as a Chosen Esper is exceptional already, and should expect an exceptional dungeon. Second thoughts?"

"Yes, but none that change my mind. I think you're right that this is my dungeon, and that the System means for us to go here, in the same way that Chosen Esper was the Blessing I was supposed to pick. This is also going to sound weird, but it almost feels like there's a path I'm supposed to find, a series of correct steps, and if I find those steps and don't mess up along the way, that's how my story is supposed to go."

"Daniel, this is a dangerous habit of thought. It doesn't even need to be wrong to be dangerous. This is not a story or a game. You may be chosen and blessed, but that will not shield you. If we go through that entrance, you must be ready to focus only on what is directly ahead of us, or you may die. Inattention kills."

Ray was right of course. Young Arthur would do well to listen to mage Merlin, who had put his vast wit and hundreds of summers at the service of his new liege. Still, the mythic interpretation of all this felt right. Not just "right" as in correct, but as in righteous, that it would be a moral wrong somehow to reject. It was instinct, and Dan felt it powerfully. He didn't think it irrational to trust instinct that strong. The thought that he had absurdly high Perception, and that that may have undescribed effects, flickered through his mind.

"I understand. If you haven't noticed, I tend to get a bit tangled up in my head before I commit to something I can not easily back out of. I just like to think everything through, be sure I haven't missed something."

"Even Espers can not see all. Do we do this, or do we not?"

"Yep, let's do this."

The human and twilight raven took a few minutes to put together a plan on what to do immediately after they entered the dungeon. As plans went, it had the virtue of being really really simple. First, get their bearings as quickly as they possibly could. Second, kill any monsters in the immediate area. Third, make a new plan.

Dan was as ready as he could make himself. A sling bullet pulled gently at his finger, the familiar tension a comfort as he prepared to cross the threshold. His backpack sat snugly on his shoulders over the fur he'd claimed from the goblin chieftain. He took a loose stance, weight on the balls of his feet, ready to move or dodge.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

They entered the dungeon.

At once Dan's senses reported a flood of pertinent facts. It was hot, a stifling hot, and the air was thick with humidity and a miasma of strange aether. His hands were chained above his head by a pair of metal (iron?) manacles, and the chain ran through a loop sunk into the stone wall. His feet were each cuffed to the wall above the ankle, and his backpack lay on the ground beside him. His sling dangled down from his right hand, which was honestly kind of funny in the circumstances, and his belt bag remained strapped around his waist. He was fully clothed, including the fur about his shoulders. There was a light aperture up and to his left. It was small, and shadows showed that three bars ran through it vertically. Light came through, and that meant it was daytime. The ground was wet dirt, almost mud. The walls and ceiling were hewn stone blocks caked with grime. Most of a humanoid skeleton lolled in one corner of the cell. It was probably there just to add ambiance to the scene. Everything stank. The air was thick with decay and rot, accented by the smell of swamp that drifted through the small, barred window. Three walls of the cell were stone, but the fourth was made of metal bars and included the barred door. Ray was in a large bird cage that hung from the ceiling by a chain.

All of that mattered, but the most immediate of the many facts his senses reported was that there were prison guards. They had the lower bodies of large snakes, maybe pythons or anancondas, that rose up to a height of maybe five or six feet tall and spread into a wide, cobra's hood. They each had two pair of arms, the upper very much like a human's and a smaller second set that shrunk down to dull claws and looked nearly vestigial. They were armed with spears (what was it with semi-intelligent monsters and spears?), there were five of them, and they were hostile. System Identify confirmed that they were fallen Naga, with levels between five and eight. The prison cell Ray and Dan were in was set at the end of a long hall with rows of cells on both sides, and the guards patrolled its length.

All of this took less than a second to process. The combined boost to his ability to filter and understand sensory data from his incredibly high Perception attribute and Chosen Esper blessing joined to form a true cognitive super power. Dan could form and understand an accurate picture of his surroundings almost instantly after getting dumped there from another world. Ray was only slightly behind him in reacting. So even though they were imprisoned, outnumbered, and should have been disoriented, Dan and Ray got the jump on their new jailors. A rapid salvo of dark bolts issued from within the prison cell.

Monster Defeated, Fallen Naga Jailer (lvl 7). Aether Gained.

Monster Defeated, Fallen Naga Jailer (lvl 5). Aether Gained.

Monster Defeated, Fallen Naga Jailer (lvl 8). Aether Gained.

Monster Defeated, Fallen Naga Jailer (lvl 5). Aether Gained.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 6 in Esper Class. 2 Points of Perception awarded. 1 free attribute point awarded. 1 free level six perk awarded. 1 free Aether Ability awarded. Aether Ability "Track Prey" (R4, Esper) awarded.

Monster Defeated, Fallen Naga Jailer (lvl 7). Aether Gained.

The snake men monster things never had a chance. Ray was a powerful level 14 noble beast, and Dan's borrowed Dark Bolts were just as strong as Ray's. They were cheap in aether cost too. Each only took one fourteenth of Dan's (or Ray's) Aether Pool. An ordinary dungeon party could easily have been turned into pin cushions where they stood chained, struggling against their bonds.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. Ray, could you please teleport out and go check if one of the keys on that ring hanging on the far wall can get me out this cell?"

"My pleasure. Welcome to your first dungeon."