Charles appeared next to Alli and Kira and reflexively minimized the deluge of messages that threatened to clog his vision entirely. The ground lurched unexpectedly sending him to his knees while reaching out for his companions as a second tremor ran through the ground. In front of them was the gazebo and town hall. The system constructed buildings barely moving as the ground bucked and moved.

Turning around he saw the bridge leading to the dungeon washed clean as the river surged over it in a wave of brown water. Looking past the bridge they witnessed the dungeon shining brightly and pulsing with light. With each pulse, the dungeon shrank explosively in size and the door leading into it vanished.

It was unclear how much time had passed while they were gone but it had been long enough for all the people in front of the dungeon to disperse. Those that couldn’t fight or were too young had been placed in front of the dungeon and on the bridge during the battle.

Alli perked up her ears and looked in the other direction, “It sounds as though everyone is still at the gates.”

“Kate,” Kira shouted as she spun on her feet and ran away.

“She’s embarrassed because of what she did,” Alli told Charles as they watched her run off.

“I think I prefer it that way for now,” He began nervously. “I’ve never been in a real relationship before, it will take me a while to come to terms with it.”

“How do you feel about her?” Alli asked, an odd undertone appearing in her voice.

Charles turned back to look at the shrinking dungeon. “I like her, I just don’t know if she is ready yet. She has a lot of things to work through, and I know she has started to work through them…”

Alli turned her head and looked at him, her mismatched eyes troubled. “It’s hard not knowing if the other person returns your feelings, or if they ever will. Let her know, one way or the other.”

Charles didn’t respond as they watched the dungeon stop shrinking only for a dark dome-like barrier to spring into existence and cover it completely. “I guess no one is going to be entering the dungeon now,” He said turning away from it, he needed to find Charlotte and tell her that he was alive.

He had a lot to think about and go through later, for now, he needed to focus on those important to him. With Alli at his side, they started running, quickly gaining on Kira and then matching her pace.

The noise coming from the open gate was deafening, as everyone in the city at large seemed to be gathered there. One voice soon rose above the others, silencing the rest from the pure emotion it contained.

“KIRA!!! Where is she? KIRA!!!” Kate’s panicked voice had Kira digging in and pushing all the speed she could muster from her new body.

People were packed shoulder to shoulder around the opening in the wall, staring at the destruction that had occurred earlier.

Coming up behind them, Kira pushed and shoved her way through the packed and unmoving crowd. Charles and Alli were directly behind her, helping to push through people.

“Why aren’t these people moving out of the way?” Alli asked as yet another person was pushed into her, almost ending up under her large paws.

Charles didn’t answer, his mind was focused on why nobody had reacted to the dungeon changing. Surely, they had felt that tremor or seen the pulsing light!

A minute later Kira stepped clear of the crowd and ran to her hyperventilating younger sister. “I’m here, I’m alright,” Charles heard her tell Kate while cradling her head to her chest.

Off to the side, Charlotte was thankfully still passed out from using all her energy on magic. Scott was holding her close and seemed oblivious to the rest of the world. Kory and Krystal wrapped their arms around both their daughters, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Slowly the crowd quieted down and a new round of mutterings began. “He’s alive? I thought I saw him die!” One person would say, while another would mention something else, “They said he vanished into a bright light!”

Charles stepped carefully over to his sister and Scott, slumping to the ground next to them. The full import of what they had managed to accomplish, mixed with what he had been told robbing him of all his energy.

“Make sure she stays safe Scott,” He said as Alli licked his face once before leaving to find Jenny and James.

Scott looked at him dully, his eyes glazed with exhaustion. “That goes without saying. What happened to the three of you? You just vanished after getting stabbed repeatedly.”

“It’s a long story that I only want to tell once,” Charles looked away from his brother-in-law and towards the bloody remains of the battlefield. “What happened after we vanished?”

“Nothing, it’s only been like ten minutes. A lot of people cheered when they saw Kira kill the last guy and then vanished and they stopped. That initial round of cheers though caused everyone we had been keeping safe by the dungeon to run over here. And now you’re back fully healed, like it never happened,” Scott leaned forward and touched his head to Charlottes. “Thank you for coming back, however, you did it. I don’t know how I could have explained you being dead to her, it would have broken her.”

Charles sighed and leaned back on his elbows looking up at the sky far above them. He wasn’t even sure how he was going to tell her that their parents were still alive, much less everything else. “Let’s get everything gathered together and then we need to hold a town meeting. We need to start sending expeditions to bring people back or establish towns of their own. We can’t keep just working for ourselves, we need to help what is left of humanity as well.”

Scott clutched Charlotte tightly in his arms as he struggled to his feet with a laugh. “Whatever happened to you must have been something. I think that is the first time I’ve ever heard you talk about helping anyone that isn’t part of your family or close friends.”

Charles smirked and stood with him, “Be serious Scott, I never had any close friends.”

“I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. Now if you will excuse me, I have to take my wife someplace where she can rest and then I need to find Ray to thank him for rescuing her in time.”

Charles watched him walk away, feeling glad that his sister had found someone she could rely on.

“He’s a good one,” Kory said as he came up behind him. “I heard some of what you said about the town meeting and I agree, what we have here needs to be shared.”

“How’s Kate doing?”

Kory ran his hand through his hair and looked away. “She refuses to let go of Kira; she has stopped crying at least.”

“What will happen when she has to leave again in the future?” Charles asked curiously as he walked towards where he had last seen Kira.

“She’s been fine with it in the past, I think the abrupt nature of how she disappeared had more to do with her panicky than anything else. And then there is that,” Kory finished as he pointed in front of them.

Kira was sitting on the ground in front of her mother, while Kate was behind her holding her shirt up and revealing her back. A back that no longer had the many scars that seemed to constantly itch and bother Kira.

“You’re pretty close to giving everyone a free show,” Charles joked as he came up behind them.

Kira spun pulling her shirt roughly from her sisters’ grasp, her face reddening as soon as she heard his voice. “They healed them, they’re all gone, just like that. I’ve tried so many times to put what happened behind me over the years, but I never could because of the scars. They were always itching or hurting, reminding me of their presence and now they’re gone,” She swallowed thickly as fat teardrops began to fall down her cheeks.

Kate hugged her from behind, her own eyes wet with the tears she was desperately holding back. She had seen firsthand over the years how the scars had bothered her older sister, preventing her from moving on in any meaningful way.

“How did this happen?” Krystal asked with wide happy eyes.

“Simple. We went to visit with the gods and beings from Earth cannot exist naturally there. They had to change our bodies and races when we arrived,” Charles told them, feelings of gratitude to the gods weaving a web of warmth in his heart.

“Wait, they changed my race?” Kira asked in a panic, her eyes unfocused as she pulled up her status. “It says that my race is ‘High Human’, I’ve never even seen that line before.”

Next to her Kate pulled up her own information, “Hey you’re right there is a new line there, it just lists me as ‘Human’ though.”

Charles smiled softly at Kira before looking at her mother, “We need to get everything collected quickly and the people safe behind the walls. We need to have a town meeting today. A lot of new information has come to light and we need to prepare.”

Krystal looked at the position of the sun and then the field of dead bodies, “It will take everyone a while to get this cleared up, thankfully it is still early in the day. Let us get this done and then have a few hours of peace and rest. We can have the meeting tonight, that’ll give people enough time to either join the town or leave.”

“Alright, I’ll be in either the system building or checking out the shop,” Charles looked down at his tattered clothes, his body may have been healed but his clothes were still falling apart. “I think it’s time I found some clothes and equipment that won’t fall apart so easily. Besides, I have a lot of random crap from all the monsters I’ve looted, and I need to get rid of it.”

“You’ll want to hurry then, a lot of the people that showed up yesterday were here for the store. After we loot the monsters here, I’m sure they are all going to rush right back to it,” Krystal told him as she stood.

Kira looked up at him as he turned to leave, her face a mass of complicated emotions each vying for control.

“Later,” He mouthed to her. He knew Kate was not going to let her out of her sight for a while.

Kira breathed in deeply and nodded before turning to focus on her family once more.

Charles pushed through the crowd and hurried to the system building wanting to be alone. He had a lot to think about and messages to review. He ignored the gentle pulsing of the table in the center of the room and sat in the corner where he had slept the night before.

Sitting with his back against the wall, the tension he had been feeling slowly left his body. Exhaustion warred with his desire to sort through everything that had happened. With a grunt of tired annoyance Charles stood and leaned against the table, opening the first of many messages.

Congratulations, your race has been changed from ‘Human’ to ‘High Demi-God’. Note: The number of status points received for each level has been increased from 5 to 10.

Congratulations, Divine Element magic has now been unlocked. The spell ‘Mists of Dispersion’ may now be used once a day.

Congratulations, racial trait ‘Wings of Light’ has now been unlocked.

Congratulations, Spatial magic has been learned. The information for the Spatial magic ‘Zero Door’ has been imparted. The spell ‘Zero Door’ is currently locked due to a lack of understanding in Spatial magic. Note: Only places previously visited may be used with this spell.

Congratulations, your soul companions’ race has been changed from ‘Dog’ to ‘Silver Shadow Wolf’. Note: The number of status points received for each level has been increased to match race.

Congratulations, the action of changing your race from ‘Human’ to ‘High Demi-God’ has caused the curse ‘Sleeplessness’ to be removed.

Congratulations, for being part of the group that eliminated two enemy champions you have received 10 status points as a reward.

Congratulations, for being part of the group that eliminated two enemy champions your soul companion Alli has received 10 status points as a reward. Her status points have been automatically distributed.

Congratulations, you have leveled up. You are now level 16; you have gained 10 status points for distribution.

Congratulations, you have leveled up. You are now level 17; you have gained 10 status points for distribution.

Congratulations, your soul companion Alli has leveled up. She is now level 16; her status points have been automatically distributed.

Congratulations, your soul companion Alli has leveled up. She is now level 17; her status points have been automatically distributed.

Congratulations, the runes inscribed on your body have fully merged with your mana channels. The effects of all runes have been strengthened and your understanding of mana is now almost complete.

Congratulations, the runes for meditation and mana gathering have fully merged with your body. Meditation may now be maintained constantly. Your body now gathers an extreme amount of mana constantly, the need for food and water has been reduced.

Charles read through the messages carefully, looking for any clues they could give him. Bob had been clear when he told Charles what his duties were. He couldn’t afford to just stay in one place, he needed to be out there helping to establish towns where people could communicate. He would never be able to find the gods that were causing problems on his own otherwise.

Those two spells that Bob had imparted on him before he left were going to be the key. One allowed him to fly, depending on the speed he could achieve with it he would be able to reach places faster than if he was in a car. The other one ‘Zero Door’, he needed to unlock as soon as possible.

The other notifications were nice surprises however, no longer being cursed was certainly nice. The race change and getting more status points with each level would certainly help as well. The biggest surprise was the last two messages, Bob had been hinting that the runes would be helpful, but he hadn’t been expecting something of that level. In the last few fights they had been in, the amount of mana he could use was what limited his abilities. He couldn’t fire off spells endlessly, he had to manage the cost versus effectiveness. The rune drawing mana into his body would change that.

Alli pushed her way into the building and laid down in front of him. “Jenny and James are safe; all the kids are. The adults made sure they stayed out of the way and watched from a distance.”

Charles dismissed the messages and focused on his friend and companion, his hand seeming to reach down for her fluffy ears on its own. “What’s wrong? You sound sad for some reason.”

Alli sniffed and put her head against his knees, “It’s hard, it’s only been a couple of days since we brought them back and I can already feel them leaving me behind. They want friends and family that they can relate to, to them I’m just a large intelligent dog nothing more. I wanted to take care of them, but it seems I’m not needed,” Her eyes trembled and grew wet as her entire body jerked with soft sobs.

“Forget about them,” Charles said as he lowered his head to hers, kneeling in front of her. “If they can’t see how much you have to give, or how much you cared for them, then they are worth crying over. I know you want a family of your own, kids to take care of and everything. I promise we will find a way for you to have it all, but in the meantime just remember that you are part of my family.” He grinned and pulled away so she could see his face. “You are part of my family in a way that can never be undone, our souls are kind of linked now for the rest of eternity. Don’t cry for them, kids are stupid, and they aren’t worth your tears.”

Alli hiccupped and laughed at his pitiful attempt to make her feel better. “That was terrible Charles, I can’t forget them just like that.” She nudged him were her wet muzzle and licked his cheek. “I understand what you were going for though, thank you. Kira isn’t the only one who wouldn’t know what to do if you died and left us behind. At least I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“It’s the same for me, Alli, you are my rock. If you suddenly vanished, I don’t know what I’d do.” Charles pushed her off him and stood, “Come on, let’s check out the store. I have a lot of loot to get rid of and I know you do as well.”

Alli stepped back and noticed the blinking table for the first time. “Why is that table blinking with light?”

“Right, I almost forgot to check why it was doing that,” Charles remarked carelessly as he turned to the table and pulled up the town menu.

Congratulations, over one thousand people have become citizens of ‘Dungeonville’. The walls of the town may now be expanded, claiming more land for the town to grow while keeping the people safe. Using this upgrade will consume all stored mana.

Would you like to expand the town limits?

“It seems enough people have joined the town that we can expand in size already,” He told her as he closed the message without selecting either option. “I’ll let Kory and Krystal worry about that, we can’t do it while people are moving around outside the wall. They might get hurt,” He turned away from the table calmly walked through the door of the building. He would have to remember to tell them about the upgrade later, everything concerning the town was now their responsibility. He had other things to worry about now.