The Gatekeeper mercifully released Allen and stepped back with a smile. Her doll-like eyes swept across the hall before settling on the one limbed Ty and the two dozen unconscious slaves behind him. “Jerr, I see you’ve brought guests,” she said, smile fading.

“Yeah, about that… Can you take us to the temple?” Allen began, glancing over his shoulder, “Oh, and is Doc around?”

“Of course! Just follow me,” Maráuh said, waving vaguely at the Faceless Ones. In unison, the larger golems came to life again and moved towards the group. “I have not seen the one called Doc as of late, however.”

The Gatekeeper put a finger to her chin as the Faceless Ones knelt down and reached out for Ty and the slaves. Their bodies, bulging with muscle, showed merely a glimpse of the unspeakable brutality of which they were capable.

“Uh hey!” Ty shouted, vainly trying to shuffle away on his stump legs. Nevertheless, the golem closed its hand around him like a child picking up a toy.

The Gatekeeper smiled again as the Faceless Ones stood up, each carrying a number of slaves in addition to the one holding Ty. She spun around lavishly before gesturing for everyone to follow with another wave. The golems followed in two lines without hesitation, but it took a few seconds before Camila and Amelia forced themselves to move, the latter pushing the professor along.

Allen allowed the other three to catch up with him. The gate at the end of the hall was not as far off as it seemed. The hall was just so massive that it played with their perspective. “She can be a little intimidating, but Mar is really just a big dummy,” Allen said, glancing between the three others and knocking on the side of his head with a grin.

“Dummy thick, you mean,” Camila muttered under her breath and stared forward.

Allen smirked, knowing the golem could probably hear a pin drop from over a kilometer away. “It’s okay,” he continued, looking ahead again, “she wants you to look.”

Camila glared back, seeming a little embarrassed as Amelia laughed lightly to herself.

The group reached the opposite end of the hall in a matter of minutes. The light flooding inward had died away as they approached, revealing a ten meter tall arched gate set into the marble wall. It was made of what appeared to be solid gold, each vertical bar as thick around as Allen’s arm. He knew the metal was actual Gilded Titan Orichalcum, which made gold seem like mere tin by comparison.

Through the bars, Allen could see the familiar courtyard of the Root Node with a beautiful blue sky overhead. Fluffy clouds hung motionless while the brightest stars shone through the daylight.

Maráuh made a backhanded sweeping motion without stopping. The golden gates jolted to motion and swung outward. A with a fresh spring scent, the same message met everyone as they crossed the threshold.

You have entered a dungeon: The Wandering Gate

Irregular – Arcane – Level [hidden]

Christopher grunted in surprise. “Why is the level hidden? Dungeon’s don’t do that,” he started, looking ahead to the Gatekeeper who had turned to face them. “What level is this place? It’s nine-fifty at least.”

Allen chuckled to himself.

“I’m afraid I cannot answer that, man of the rolling chair,” said the golem.

Christopher furrowed his brow as he looked around the courtyard. The gate they had just exited stood open behind them, though there was nothing but a frame of white marble around it. There was a lush garden of flowers and bushes behind the gate and a stretch of grass beyond that before the land suddenly fell out of sight at the top of a cliff. Only many kilometers off in the distance could rolling plains be seen until the green met the rich blue of the sky.

They were actually standing on the top of an acropolis-like hill that soared above the surrounding terrain like a massive tree stump. In fact, that was what Wan had said the Root Node’s acropolis was supposed to be, though that was nothing more than lore.

In the center of the courtyard was a domed shrine of white marble. Then, surrounding the shrine at the edge of the courtyard in an even circle, there were dozens of gates identical to the one they had come from, forty-two to be exact. Other than the one behind them, all the gates were different in their own ways. To name a few, there was one that was overgrown with vines, another that appeared to be frozen in ice, and yet another that was actually on fire.

“Come, you clearly need healing,” the golem said, glancing over everyone. “If Doc or Meredith aren’t at the temple, then I’m sure Wan can find someone for you.”

“Who’s Wan? and What is this place?” Christopher asked, looking at the sky with wide eyes.

“The Wandering Gate is the answer to both questions,” Allen said. “Instead of floors and rooms, Wan has nodes that are all connected through gate passageways like the one we were just in. That was the entrance gate,” Allen continued, pointing over his shoulder at the massive golden gate just as it shut itself again. The image of the hall behind the vertical bars quickly faded out until only the blue sky could be seen through them, “and this is the Root Node. We can get anywhere in the dungeon from here, with the right clearances.”

“Wan is the dungeon?” the professor asked, looking uncertain. “It is a sentient dungeon then?”

“Yeah, obviously,” Allen replied. “He’s at least level twenty-six-hundred, but everybody I know with the Spades says he’s level three thousand.”

Christopher grunted again and looked down at his hands.

Maráuh seemed to find the discussion amusing, though she didn’t say anything herself. She only guided the group and the Faceless Ones into the shrine at the center of the courtyard. There were more Faceless Ones standing still on every side of the shrine. Without the nametags, there would be no way to tell them apart from statues.

The inside of the shrine was empty, except for the columns at the sides and an altar in the middle. The altar was a square block of marble with about the same length as a Faceless One. The statue of a normal sized man sat pensively near the edge of the altar. It of course, wasn’t really a statue.

Name: Gatekeeper Solutus

Primordial Soul Golem – Mage – Level 950

His body was similarly undressed, though his head was bald, and he was much leaner than the Faceless Ones. He only had two horns, but they angled straight upward from his temples, ending nearly twenty centimeters above his brow. He had nothing but a book made of solid gold that he was apparently reading with great intensity.

The golem didn’t react at all when Maráuh sauntered up with a pout on her face. “How long have you been here? You should be watching the gate this cycle, not me,” she tapped him on the shoulder and the golem mage snapped his book shut with a metallic clunk. “Move, I’m opening the hidden gate.”

Without waiting for the other Gatekeeper to respond, Maráuh made an upward sweeping motion at the altar. A low thud sounded out before the alter swiftly rose from the floor into a tall obelisk. The Mage golem floated off the altar like a feather before it reached its full height and stopped.

A smaller gate just barely large enough to fit a Faceless One revealed itself in the side of the extended alter. The other Gatekeeper opened his book again before silently walking past the group and out of the shrine. Allen shook his head as the others watched him leave.

Maráuh opened the hidden gate with a wave, revealing the scene of a shadowy cave with thick viny trees near the edges and an old but tastefully foreboding temple in the middle.

You have entered a dungeon: The Temple of the Spade

Structured – Dusk – Level 500

“What? Why are we in another dungeon?” Christopher blurted out as he was pushed through the threshold.

The Gatekeeper glanced over at him inquisitively for a second. “Oh, I guess it would look like that to you,” she began. “This little space is still within Wan’s domain.”

“Irregular, remember?” Allen supplied, watching as the gate shut behind the last Faceless One before disappearing entirely, leaving behind only the dull stone of the cave entrance.

“I’ll ask again later,” the professor said with a sigh.

Allen hummed affirmatively as he looked back at the temple. “Well, it's been three years since I was here last,” he thought, a smile pulling at his lips. “Let’s see who’s home.”