When we were done, he showed me where to wash out my bowl and spoon. Once we had left the mess hall he pointed towards one of the stalls in the market. It had the words “Information Broker” printed on it in thick bold print. There was a woman sitting at a desk, an NPC who was writing something on a slate with a glowing stylus, frowning as she read and wrote. She was middle aged, but her weather-beaten face gave her a much older appearance. Covered in tattoos, with gold hoops dangling from one ear and a strange looking feathered band on her brow. Her dark brown robes cascading from a lithe figure seemed to portray a look of reserved strength and competence.

“Here’s where you can earn a few credits fishie, now meet me over there when you’re done.” He pointed towards a large open area next to a massive wooden wall that had men and women practicing with blunted weapons and staves. They were stripped to the waist and covered in dust and sweat. He limbered up his shoulders and cried out to a couple of them as he jogged over. I watched several of the combatants break off and slap him across the shoulders as they pushed him into a ring. He picked up one of the wooden swords off the rack and pulled the shield off his shoulders and faced off against a guy who was waiting for him, jeering.

I turned away to see the woman staring at me, or more specifically staring at my robes. “How does this fresh fish wear robes of a dark god.” She mused as if to herself as she stared at me intently.

“I was a cleric, before they tossed me in.” She frowned and nodded.

“So, what can you tell this one, how may Saskin help the fishies?” She stated and turned her intense gaze towards me. I studied her neatly kept blond hair and intense eyes, and she nodded.

“Tell me of war, you know yes?” I nodded and began to tell her of my story, how I had come to Endaria, and the fall of the Fenwick stronghold, leaving out anything to do with me being a champion.

“You are not being truthful with Saskin…we are done here. This one will pay but do not come back until you tell this one more of your story… the parts that are important.” She tossed me a glowing token with a single one credit mark on it.

“Hey! This all for my life story?” I said, outraged. I thought I had good information, about Fenwick and lots of good juicy bits. I even described the different people I had met when she had asked me.

“Go now… or do you seek from Saskin?” She drummed her fingers on the table, then leaned back in her chair out of the glow from above and went back to reading, completely ignoring me.

I had the feeling that anything I asked would end up being more than I could afford. Huffing, I slowly got up and paced over to the nearby practice area to watch Kirk spar.

Kirk was more than holding his own, he was actually quite good. I sat down on a nearby bench and watched him with wonder. His shield seemed to be a part of him, like an extension of his arm and his sword always was where it needed to be. I had no idea how to fence at all but this wasn’t exactly any sort of sword stuff I had watched before. This was brutal and savage, both opponents gave no quarter.

I noticed that they had to carefully state the rules of each fight, and promise no intentionally malicious bloodshed. Even then, they glanced nervously upwards and took great care not to seriously injure each other despite the furious nature of their combat. I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but this place had to be the best-behaved prison I had ever heard of.

Kirk finished, and shook hands with his opponent before he gestured to me to approach one side of the practice grounds, while others went back to fighting. He slung his shield back over his shoulders, and put his practice sword back. “Right, well I’m going to be teaching you all day. Don’t expect these lessons to be free either. You will help me or I’ll ditch you and you can have fun fending for yourself.” His eyes narrowed at me and I nodded.

“First thing you need to learn is how to fall. I’ve watched you, it’s like you don’t have any idea how to walk properly.” I frowned.

“Wouldn’t it be better just to teach me how to fight? What does falling have to do with it? I’m not expecting to be a kung fu master or anything.” Someone laughed at my retort and I turned to see a tiny looking player with a heavily scarred face. She was holding a short sword and was practicing thrusts with it against an animated practice dummy.

“Fishie! You must really want to delete your char er?” She cackled and then went back to thrusting her weapon, wincing as the mechanical dummy blocked the thrust with a little round shield.

Kirk came up next to me. He looked down at me in disgust and shook his head. “You can’t learn to run before you learn to walk.” He then demonstrated how to fall by falling forwards and slapping the ground.

We practiced all day long, until he had to log out. When he did, I was left standing there in the practice yards, bruised, battered but a bit hopeful. He had shown me several ways to fall and disperse the energy of jumping. There was a pit of mulch and a wall people tumbled from.

As I watched as other fishies were also being trained, I found that I was far from the only one completely clueless here. Even players with red tags were learning here from ones without any PK status. It wasn’t without incident though.

The gathering of so many new guys finally gave me a demonstration of the power of the guardian of the Labyrinth when one of them began to berate one of the girls practicing with a staff.

She had slipped on the soft ground and fallen into one of the new guys practicing with a short sword on the dummies. A shield arm from the dummy flew up and clocked the guy she had hit in the face from that moment of distraction, eliciting a scream of rage and pain.

Clutching the bruise, he turned and pushed the girl away. She stumbled back and fell down hard, her hand crunching awkwardly into the ground from the fall. I winced as I saw she had injured her wrist, probably broken it.

As she clutched her wrist, the player with the shortsword paced over to her and began screaming at her, while rubbing his face.

“Stupid cow! Look what you did!” He called and then made a big mistake. He viciously slammed the side of his practice shortsword into her head, rocking her jaw back and sending her onto the ground, bleeding. There was a complete silence from the bystanders who all stepped away from him in terror.

The response was nearly instant. A bright light lanced down from the sky and froze the player as he prepared another strike on the helpless girl.

“You are in violation! First offence… termination” A force boomed over the hub and everyone turned to watch the light and wince as the player screamed, then was vaporized. The process was not pretty or swift. The guardian must have decided to be a bit nasty, as it was very slow with first his skin burned off then his body cooked and burst apart, finally even his suspended body parts vanished in a bright flash and the beam was gone.

There was nothing left but a charred and burning practice sword laying there on the ground next to a clump of burning rags.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and my heart seemed to restart when there was a wry chuckle and one of the players kicked the mess to the side of the practice court and went to help the girl up who stumbled, and seemed to be in a daze.

Walking over, I gesture for her to show the injured limb as I slowly and carefully reached for my power. Gathering my glowing water out of the air with great difficulty until I had barely enough to coat my palm. When she backed up in fear, I shook my head.

“Will you let me heal you?” I asked and glanced nervously up at the sky where the beam had come from. She nodded quickly and stepped forward.

It was more difficult, like I had felt when trying to use my power before I had become a champion. I healed the cut on her head, and then proceeded to repair her wrist, which took a few minutes, and left me feeling a bit drained and queasy.

She nodded and then hugged me. “Thank you!” The girl said and pointed to another group of people standing next to her. “We are forming a party; you want to join us? We need a healer!” I shook my head.

“I’m not really looking for a party, but I don’t mind healing anyone. I need to practice a bit.”

At that statement several people with sprains and bruises came to me and I concentrated on trying to get the hang of healing more efficiently. It was difficult as well as time consuming and left me feeling even worse than usual. Soon I had to call a halt before I passed out, eliciting a few groans of consternation, but most understood the limits of a caster and were good natured about it.

Finally, the yard began to clear out as the sky began to dim. The light didn’t fade completely but it dimmed to almost twilight. The stalls from the nearby market closed, the occupants walking away towards open doorways in the distance. I was soon left alone as most of the players simply logged out.

I wished I could log out, but I had tried to pull up my interface. Other than being able to see player tags, and a few other basic things, nothing responded. I would have to wait until they pulled me out in a couple of days.

They had said my testing group would have a forced log out after a week to undergo some tests, and let the techs service the VR dive capsules, in preparation for our month-long testing period. This was sort of a trial run, to make sure we all could adapt to life here in Endaria. Well it was generally supposed to be a week, but they said it could be seven or eight days so that they could make sure their staff wasn’t overburdened by lots of testers needing seen to at once.

I sighed and not knowing what else to do, laid back on the bench and stared upwards. In the twilight I could actually make out a faraway dome, so impossibly high above me there were actually clouds within it. Tiny flashes of light would sometimes streak across the dome, but it was there and reminded me of how unnatural this place was.

I got up, stumbled forward, aches and muscles protesting as I slowly shuffled towards the mess hall. I could use some more food. Turning my medallion, I saw that it read a measly four credits. I had the single credit in my pocket from the information broker. That left me feeling a bit disheartened.

It seemed as if the chow hall was also the evening gathering place for players. Most people sat around in groups, or were just eating alone and glaring at anyone who wanted to sit near them.

I waited in line, grabbed another bowl of stew and sat down in the far side of the hall, close by a few players practicing on instruments and trying and failing to sing. It was discordant, but comforting as I watched them talk and laugh with each other.

Above everything else I was always lonely. In the hospitals I hadn’t had many other kids to talk to and the only one I talked to when I was at home was the house staff, or my dad. Even in other VR games I had never really got the knack of interacting with people.

I wasn’t really sure how to actually just go up and talk to the other inmates, so I just ate in silence. All too soon my bowl was empty, and it seemed like my stomach was still growling for more.

There was more than just stew of course, but everything else cost more credits than I had on hand and I didn’t want to waste anything else. I cleaned my spoon off, and put my head down wearily on the table and tried not to doze off, something that quickly became difficult as my meal rumbled and growled in my stomach. I tried not to think about what had caused me to end up here but it was all I could think about.

How was Kai doing? Did Gloria and Vance make it out of trouble ok? I was nodding off when there was a shuddering thump next to me and someone prodded me out of my sleepy daze.

“Hey, you can’t sleep here! Stupid fishie, go to the transient hall!” I looked up to see the old woman, the same one that had given me my pack staring down at me. She sat down with a bowl of stew, and an apple and munched on the apple while grinning at me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t throw you out, but there are beds there, I’m sure this table isn’t comfortable! Go!” She shooed me away and I looked out of the dining area as she pointed towards another open area on the far side of the tables.

“Thanks, I’ll get some sleep. Sorry.” I mumbled and she waved me away. Other players were looking at me with curiosity as I stumbled past them towards the doorway. The doorway opened into a long hallway. I saw various rooms, some locked doors, but I followed the sounds of voices until I entered a long dark room with beds.

A small table was setup with a bunch of players playing some card game. They stared at me haughtily as I staggered over to a nearby bed and collapsed into it. Tucking my pack under me and clutching it, I drifted off asleep almost instantly.

Nightmares were my only company, but thankfully I didn’t’ remember much of what I dreamt about, only that it mostly contained things trying to chase and kill me, and lots of screaming.

I slowly came to as I was being shaken awake. Opening my eyes, I looked up at another player I didn’t recognize. She wore white robes, with a golden sash around her waist and was watching me intently.

“Ah, get up… the council sent me to find you.” She hissed and pointed towards the door, where another figure was silhouetted. A man in the same clothing I had seen the old woman who greeted me was tapping his foot and gesturing to me.

I slowly struggled out of bed and groaned. Every muscle on my body hurt and was stiff. I had to stagger for a bit before I caught my balance and rubbed my shoulders as I stumbled towards the man. The player who had woken me up joined her friends around the small table and I saw that they were playing chess over rough carved pieces on one side of the table and a map was spread out on the other side as they discussed some future route.

I slunk along, following the man out of the sleeping area and down the hall. He stopped me and pointed to an open door, one that had been locked the night before. There were several people sitting around a small round table. I recognized the information broker, the old woman who had handed me my pack, and one of the ones I had seen helping out in the chow hall.

“Have a seat traveler, we need to talk about your quota.” She pointed to a seat at the table and pulled up a slate.

I looked at them curiously. “I thought my quota was me paying you credit to eat.” I said and they chuckled. “Well here is how it works, we are an informal council that helps run things smoothly here in the hub, most of us were born here in the enclaves so we are used to dealing with new faces and know how to work with the guardian, as well as Dawnwatch.” She introduced all of the other members. “This is Karl, the provisioner. Talk to him for travel gear and supplies.” She pointed to a short, chubby man who grinned at me and nodded.

She introduced the information broken and one more person. “This is Reesa, the leader of the trailblazers, she helps organize expeditions to the enclaves outside the hub.” She pointed to a lithe and ridiculously fit woman who could probably give most Olympian athletes a run for their money. There was an air of soft menace from her as she sat there, picking her nails with a dagger. She looked up upon hearing her name and flashed me a toothy grin. “Heard you could heal, that’s why you’re here. Stop beating around the rocks Deidre and tell the fishie the score.” She glared at the woman and Deidre sighed.

“We need people like you to help out with the monthly quota, not the casual junk we send off every day. You see we get other things like medicines and tools that the enclaves need in our shipments, if we meet their demands. We also distribute the credits that help pay for services around the hub and to put bounties out for what the Magister’s Guild wants us to find.” She pulled up a list and set it in front of me.

“I hear that young buck; Kirk wants you to help him. We expect you to do your best to be useful to him, as he is a great asset. However, you also need to make sure you contribute to the groups looking for the stuff in the quota whenever possible. Especially now since it’s been increased again.” I frowned at them.

“And I’m betting if I don’t help, I won’t get anything from any of you.” I asked and they all nodded.

“And the enclaves will turn you away too once word reaches them. It is impossible to survive without their aid.” She narrowed her eyes at me and grinned.

“Ok… I suppose you got a point. I’ll do what I can, what do you need me to do?” I asked and they handed me a list of stuff to find.

“We have a list here ready for you, Kirk has the same list, and we expect him to help you, once you leave the Hub with him. He knows all about what we need, you have any questions you ask him. And try not to let him die again!” They glared at me and I gulped.

“Ok… and by the way is there anyone who can make me a new statuette?” I frowned at their confused looked until Reesa snapped her fingers.

“Hah, you a cleric and you don’t know the simple things? You need to make an altar to your god and consecrate it if there isn’t a temple here in the hub you can use. I doubt it… you feel like a dark god disciple to me. Just remember that the guardian won’t tolerate any human sacrifices, enslavement and that sort of thing.” She said and I had the feeling that there was more to her threat than just a visit from the guardian. I glared at her.

“I’m not like that!” I snarled and she raised her hands in placation.

“Not judging! We try not to interfere with the other gods, but do remember that the hub is mostly claimed by gods of light, and other allied gods so you can’t really work here easily until you’re out of their area of influence.” She winced and leaned back in her chair studying me.

She was right in that regard… my power did feel like it was weak here, and hard to work with. There was no rushing water, or blowing sea breezes, or anything that felt like I could draw power from too. I had a bad feeling that without a new statuette to use, I wouldn’t really be able to be of much use.

“Are there rivers, and lakes… large bodies of water in the labyrinth? That’s… sort of how I get power without a statuette to pray with.” I explained and they looked at each other, then at Reesa.

“Yes, there are lots of water areas, mostly deadly ones though, and some flooded areas you have to swim through. A few lakes and rivers, but they aren’t common. There is also plenty of running water in the hub, if you look for it.” She explained and I nodded.

“Pray and meditate young traveler.” The information broker said and I turned.

“This one gives this to you for free. Meditate at least once a day, and practice moving your power, and pray.” She said and I nodded, thanking her before I lit up as a few questions occurred to me, and I was curious if anyone wanted to respond.

“Can I get any teachers to help me wield my powers? Part of the reason I’m in here is because I lost control and people died.” I admitted, my head drooping as I tried to fight off nausea and grief at what I had witnessed.

They looked between each other and I saw Deidre nod to Saskin. The information broker studied me for a while before grinning. “There are… some teachers, but better yet there is a spire of the way deep within the labyrinth. This one knows only rumors of their existence, but perhaps you can serve this council by establishing contact.” She intoned and watched closely at my confused reaction.

“What is this spire? They aren’t clerics or anything are they? … most of the gods don’t like me much.” I grumbled.

Saskin shook her head. “They… are strange and we know very little of their beliefs, just that they have centers of learning and study all over Endaria, sometimes in the strangest of places.

We do know there are walkers of the way that live somewhere inside the labyrinth but not where it is they call home or how to get there. Perhaps… if you search for them… they will find you.” She smiled at me, as if she knew something amusing that she wasn’t willing to share.

That did sound like a much better goal than just biding my time, and perhaps there was something I could do that would make up for all the misery I had caused.

I looked at their list in my hands and sighed. There was quite the scavenger hunt ahead if I wanted to find some of the stranger requests.

“What are… ballast crystals?” I asked and they looked between each other. “They float when given a charge… some are small and round, others can be large and cut like a prism.” Reese explained and I nodded. I had a feeling that I would be asking a lot of questions, especially about some of the various herbs and plants on the list.

“The traveler Kirk can assist you with the list, he is very familiar with our requests.” They waved their hands in a clear dismissal and I got up. Reese stopped me and ushered me over.

“I’m going to send you and Kirk out for a shipment run to the enclaves, when you’re ready. I suggest you join a local salvage team as well as train in the yards. It doesn’t pay much, but it is good preparation for some of the lesser dangers you will encounter.” I nodded and thanked her. She flicked me a glowing coin and I saw that it was a five-credit token. “Get extra supplies, and perhaps a basic weapon.” She ordered.

Thanking her, I left and drifted towards the chow hall, following my nose. In the hall there was quite a bit of new fishies sitting at one table, apparently just having arrived. All of them were wearing their packs and playing with the various items in them. I spotted Kirk talking with the group. He waved me over.

“Hah… seems that a bunch of new fishies were thrown in a couple of hours ago. Deidre is going to have her hands full with this lot. By the way I saw the council take you aside, they give you the score?” I nodded.

“Actually, they seemed kind of nice, I was expecting… something else when I was thrown in a prison.” I mused, picking at a dried scab and sniffing my robes. I was beginning to stink and I was filthy, in dire need of a bath.

“Yea… while people are mostly polite to each other, there is a lot of cutthroat dealing and stuff. However, there is very little outright hostility, especially from the locals who were born here and grew up this way.” I nodded recalling the very, public example that was made of the last offender.

Kirk studied the room, his eyes narrowing. “Just… be careful… no violence doesn’t mean no danger from people. While the guardian can read minds if a complaint is made, he isn’t all seeing and people do sometimes…arrange accidents, and other more… Machiavellian things.”

As he spoke, he was carefully watching a group of newcomers. They were all wearing dark dyed robes over blackened armor. Their leader was an extraordinarily tall player with… I shit you not… a villain’s mustache right out of some sort of kid’s v-cast.

The little group reminded me of the waster teens I saw hanging around virtual malls, when I browsed them, spending far too much time looking angsty and depressed. They caught Kirk glaring at them and one noticed me, and lit up.

The whole group got up, cleaned up their mess tins, and slunk over to sit down, surrounding myself and Kirk. “Oh… Kirk, we were looking for you. Heard that last scouting mission didn’t go so well… a pity that.” He cackled and the others grinned maliciously.

“That grapple rope I traded from you guys… it snapped… oh and the map you drew me was bogus. Almost got me killed on the way there.” Kirk growled.

“Surely you don’t think we did you wrong buddy… that map was the only one handed to us that we couldn’t look into. I can swear over a stone if you want.” He grinned and turned to me.

“Oh… so it is true, you did pick up a stray.” He said and gave a deep nod of his head, flashing me a toothy grin, while he peered closely at my robes.

“Those are interesting robes… I like the pattern on them. Not something I’ve seen in loot drops or for sale around here.” He mused and I looked at the cheap dye on his own clothing, faded and worn and had to admit I did feel a bit overdressed.

“Well… there is an interesting rumor from one of the new fishes that came in today. Someone said that a champion of Aegaeon was captured by Duke Edris, yes… after that champion leveled most of his main holdings.” He stared me down intently as he spoke and I saw Kirk’s eyes widen as he gave it some thought.

“You wouldn’t know if that champion is in…here would you?” The god of the tempest… has a nice ring to it, but I think I’ll stick with the god of envy. He really does reward his faithful well, not like those pitiful minor deities.” The mustache man beamed at me and nodded to his group. They all stood up at one and trotted off as Kirk fixed me with an intense gaze before he stared into space and shook his head.

“You have got to be kidding me… a champion? I know the score with champions, and if a champion was thrown in here, they would be screwed.” Kirk said with a laugh.

I groaned and put my head in my hands.

“Everyone, especially the other clerics would be trying to off champion in here for a boon, and they have what only a few respawns?” He shook his head. Standing up he pointed out the windows in the chow hall towards the practice courts.

“Meet me there when your done eating.” He called over his shoulder. I sipped at my stew and nodded, quickly consuming it as if it was my last meal. Kirk was shaking as he walked away and I saw his face was completely pale. Was it me? Or was it something else?