Kedipaxi shuffled through the streets of Surah, the capital city of the country of the same name. It was late but he’d heard the gossip from within his dreams. Men talking in the bars. There was a new dungeon. It was on the other side of the country from him. A paid carriage would take 10 days to get there. He told himself he could make it in 7. His body carried the burden of a leper, but that wouldn’t stop him.

Kedipaxi was old and he knew much, not that anyone would listen or that he wanted to tell in the first place. A new dungeon though, that was something or, more importantly, someone that he would be willing to talk to. Maybe the dungeon couldn’t help him directly, but if he could just talk to the dungeon he’d be one step closer to revenge. At this point that was all he hoped for. There was no hope of returning to how things were. His friends were worse than dead and he was cursed with this foul disease.

The pixies that lit the streets began chiming as he passed them. The sound was comforting in a nostalgic way, but he knew it wasn’t meant to be that way. It meant he should be home. The chimes were meant to call the police, or local enforcers where the police were less established, to people out at ungodly hours. All that ended up accomplishing was giving the thugs an easier time finding their prey.

He was very nearly out of the city. Once out he would steal a horse and head east towards the Gemini forest. He would go until he was forced to stop by the horse or his own failing body. He could go without eating. He hadn’t had a true meal in ages anyway. What was a week without food?

“Yo gramps” a voice called from the alleys. That wasn’t an exaggeration. The voice was on both sides of the street and multiple alleys. “You know the shtick. Unfortunately I don't have time for banter given where we are. Just drop your shit and I’ll be on my way.” He was referring to the enforcers by this exit. They keep undesirables and the like from coming in at night. Undesirable sounded cruel, but all it meant was goblins and kobolds. Maybe a spy if Surah was at war but it wasn’t. The enforcers were generally good. They would stop a mugging if it wasn’t going to cost them a limb.

Kedipaxi didn’t care about the enforcers. They wouldn’t help him in any meaningful way. He had nothing to lose from a cutthroat. Not a dime to his name. Just the rags he had to conceal his broken flesh.

“I’ve got nothing to give” he called back in a hoarse voice.

“I’m not falling for that one pops. Drop the robe. If i'm not gettin’ anything, you're gettin’ the knife, got it?”

Kedipaxi kept walking. His pace was fast for his age. Maybe that’s why the thug didn’t attack right away. Maybe he really didn’t want to hurt the guy. Maybe he just felt something in the air. No matter what it was, he hesitated.

Once he’d gotten over whatever held him back though, he struck. From both sides and a roof, six men, all identical descended on old Kedipaxi. Only one of the knives made it into Kedipaxi’s flesh. The other five men and their weapons disappeared and the man stood with a knife in his back. The thief waited for him to drop like they always do, but Kedipaxi turned his head and his hood fell. “Sem No Lek’ni Troush” the man spoke the words in a voice that was his own but didn’t fit his old and decrepit body. It was full and held a rage that vowed undeath.

With the words this voice spoke, Kedipaxi’s frail body fell. The thief stepped away from his quarry. Sensing something was wrong he stepped back and prepared to flee. The running would only prepare him for the treck he would have to make now.

A light, far too bright to be ignored in the night, flowed from Kedipaxi to the the fleeing cutthroat. It caught up before the man had taken 20 paces and now he was no more. The body was Kedipaxi’s.

At Kedipaxi’s will, it stopped and turned back the way he had been originally going. East, towards the new dungeon.

“This way” He heard the burly shout of what could be an officer of the peace or an enforcer or even another thief. It didn’t matter. Kedipaxi created the illusions his attacker had shown him, and he had them disperse in different directions as he ran towards the exit. He realized they were more than illusions. He could see out of them and feel what they felt. He imagined how useful it could be for anyone else. Kedipaxi however, would not use it much more. His days were numbered, as they always were.

He would arrive at a town perhaps halfway between here and the gemini forest and similar events would transpire. He had lived so many 3 or 4 day lives that it had gotten old. Even the surprises had little mysticism to him anymore.

This new body was more spry than the last. He could push it beyond its normal limits without it tearing beyond recognition. When he got to the gate, he simply leapt up and over the wall.

He felt it when he jumped. His knee dislocated. The feeling below it was mostly gone so he didn’t feel what should have been painful when his ankle fractured upon landing on the other side of the wall. He didn’t care. The pain wasn’t the same as it had been when he first started doing this, and the body wasn’t going to last long anyway. His curse would follow him. The flesh would fall off of him as if he didn’t belong under it. That would take a couple of days though. For now he would run.

He ran at an unnatural speed, particularly for someone who’s leg was as mangled as his. He knew there were farms nearby and horses on at least some of those farms. He would take one and continue eastward. 7 days he told himself. That’s how long he would take to get there, and then he would finally speak to a dungeon that hadn’t already been lobotomised and ruined or groomed to the point of being unrecognizable.

This wasn’t to say there weren’t dungeons that were still intelligent. There were always new dungeons sprouting up. Someone had simply set up around those dungeons and established a military force to protect it before Kedipaxi could get there. Dungeons were worth a lot and plenty of powerful people wanted one. Once they were set up that would draw the attention of the Godhunters. They were the ones who ruined dungeons.

Of course they didn’t see it that way and neither did most of humanity. They were protecting people and limiting a dungeons growth. Once a dungeon found out about them it was too late, they’d be standing inside the dungeon. Kedipaxi would change that. He would tell this dungeon about the threats he’ll face. With enough time and resources it will change things.

Fortunately his last body had provided him with the strange dreams. He could see into places that existed far from him and hear conversations he wasn’t invited to. This would give him the chance to get to this baby with enough time to talk. They would be able to prepare for people trying to use the dungeon as well as the Godhunters trying to break him.

If Kedipaxi could save just one dungeon, that would be good enough. That would set him on the path to revenge, the path to slaying the Godhunters.