It was midday in downtown Lecliss, and the streets were crowded and bustling. The sun was high overhead, and people moved quickly to evade the heat.

A gaian woman in a beautiful purple dress stepped out of a tiny cafe and opened her parasol over her head. She drew countless admiring glances as she walked down the street, and she smiled as her purple parasol twirled over her shoulder.

A small blur bumped into her side and rushed past. She looked down in surprise, and her purse was gone.

“Stop! Thief!”

She screamed out as the small half cat beastman thief dashed through the crowd, clutching her purse tight.

A small foot shot out and caught his leg, and he tumbled to the ground. A gaian boy rushed out from the crowd, pinned him down, and grabbed the purse from him.

[ R E N D ]

The boy panicked and let go as five sharp claws flashed through the air and tore his shirt open, nearly disemboweling him.

The thief took off running before he could be caught again, and he disappeared down the street without a second look back.

A little girl helped the boy to his feet, and the two of them returned the purse to the woman with the parasol.

“This is yours, right miss?”

“Thank you, thank you, you’re my little hero!”

“It’s no problem miss, it’s what anyone would do.”

“No, that won’t do at all, you almost got hurt by that filthy thief!”

She opened her purse and pulled out a crisp red bill: a 10 golden claw note.

“Here. For your trouble.”

The boy’s mouth opened wide.

“Miss, there’s no way I can accept this!”

“Oh no, it’s not too much trouble, what if he had gotten away with my purse? I insist. Think of it as a gift. Get your little sister something good to eat, okay?”

She pushed the bill into his hand and closed his fingers around it.

The boy looked hesitant, but after looking down at his sister, he visibly softened, before bowing low to the woman.

“Thank you very much, miss.”

The boy looked to the little girl at his side and he encouraged her.

“What do we say, Shale?”

Shale looked up and gave a small smile.

“Thank you, miss!”

“A 10 gold claw note! A real 10 gold claw note! I’ve never even SEEN this much money at once!” In a quiet shaded alleyway off the main street, Hayden held the new bill up with sparkling eyes.

“She could just give that away... the rich really do live in their own world.” Daimen held out a hand, and Hayden passed him the bill so he could take a closer look.

Shale looked up at the two of them with disapproval.

“Hayden, this is stealing! It’s wrong!”

“Money is money, Shale. I can buy you your own bike with this! We can all eat whatever we want for weeks! And it’s not stealing. This was a gift Shale, a gift.”

Shale pouted. Hayden pinched her cheeks.

“Say money is money Shale.”

“Haydeeeeen stoooop!”

“Shale?”

“Money is moneyyy, okay I get it Haydeeen!”

Hayden let go of her cheeks and Shale rubbed her face.

Daimen put a hand on her head and mussed up her hair. Shale rolled her head back and forth with the motion of his palm and giggled.

“It’ll be hard to make any more money with this method though. Could get lucky if we tried it over on the west end but, I wouldn’t risk it. Too many people will remember this, and people will talk. They won’t remember our faces, but it’s easy enough to put two and two together.” Daimen said.

“I’ll think of something else for next time then. No big deal.” Hayden grinned. “For now lets go to the bakery and stuff Shale full of croissants.”

“I like this plan!” Shale beamed.

Daimen handed the note back over to Hayden with a smile.

Ah-

A sudden gust of wind ripped the bill out of Daimen’s hand and whipped it high into the air. The kids heads all turned up in despair as it fluttered away, but then it suddenly turned and shot straight down towards them. Hayden followed it down with his eyes...

and found himself face to face with a knight in shining white armor that squatted directly in front of him.

“Boo.”

Ah!

The trio took a step back from the armored figure that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

The tall, lanky half cat beastman in form fitting white plate stood up slowly and stretched, the 10 gold claw note hovering above his hand on gusts of air.

A cartoonish, belittling voice came from behind the man’s white helm.

“Well howdy, kids! Isn’t this just a super day?”

He turned to look at Hayden.

“Well, if it isn’t Mr. best friend! The little man with all the plans. Oh, and Ms. little sister as well? It’s turning out to be a real orphan family outing, isn’t it?”

Daimen clenched his fists as he stared up at the dark, cross shaped slit on the face of the man’s helm.

“What do you want, Hyde.”

The man turned to Daimen.

“It’s Sir Brighteye now, little brother. Sir. Bright. Eye.”

He leaned in and punctuated the three words with three flicks on Daimen’s cat-like ears that Daimen tried and failed to avoid.

Hyde mimicked Shale with a high pitched voice.

“‘Hayden this is stealing... it’s wrong!’ You should really listen to Ms. little sister there, Mr. best friend. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. Cause stealing’s a crime, you know?”

A whispering, uncomfortable wind started to pick up all around them, seemingly innocuous but sharp as blades, whistling past their ears and biting at their skin.

“And crimes are punished by execution in Lecliss, you know?”

A lock of Shale’s black hair hit the ground.

“Hayden?” Shale looked around fearfully.

“Don’t move, Shale.”

Hayden gritted his teeth and stood stock still. Shale whimpered and did the same. Tiny red lines popped up on Hayden and Daimen’s arms and necks as thin twisting wires of wind continuously left hairlike cuts along their bodies.

Daimen spoke calmly.

“You and I both know you don’t even care, Hyde. Give the money back.”

“Oh, you mean this? You want it? Here, take it.”

He held out his hand and opened his palm, and the 10 gold claw note stood straight up above it, flapping wildly at its edges as rapid jets of wind tore at it. Hayden and Daimen scowled.

“Ah but, this is stolen money, now isn’t it? If the authorities found out that you kids had this, you’d be in real big trouble, wouldn’t you? Lucky I’m here! Let me solve all your problems real quick.”

Hayden winced as a violent burst of air shredded the bill to oblivion. Not even a scrap was left.

“There. Aren’t I generous? What do we say, Shale?”

Shale looked at the white knight with reluctance. “...Thank you, sir...”

“You’re very welcome, young lady!”

A line of red appeared across Shale’s forehead.

“Ah-”

A curtain of blood ran down her face and into her eyes.

“Ahh, ahh, AHHHHH!!”

“SHALE!” Hayden screamed and grabbed his sister as she fainted.

Daimen’s eyes turned wild, his claws popped out and he lunged at Hyde in fury.

[ R E N -

Daimen’s skill activation was cut short as Hyde’s fist slammed into his gut.

He fell to his knees and vomited blood to the ground.

Hyde sniffed and waved his tail back and forth lazily.

“Come on, little brother.”

He crouched next to Daimen.

“I know you’re stupid, but you REALLY didn’t see this coming?”

Daimen spit out mouthfuls of blood and curled up on the ground, gritting his red dyed teeth in pain.

“No one BREATHES in Lecliss without me knowing. I knew about your half baked plan to get rich quick as soon as your little friend came up with it.”

Hyde stood up and looked over the three bleeding children with glee.

“Aigoo, too bad, little criminals.”

He tapped the side of his helm mockingly.

“Try to think at least a couple steps ahead next time, please?”

The white knight shook his head and vanished on the spot, leaving behind a booming laughter that echoed with the wind.

“We should have seen this coming. I could have been better prepared.”

We descended from the tall building with Maude’s aid, and Cassius wandered off to the side, mumbling.

“How? There was no way we could have known.” Maude looked irritated.

“So it’s big. That doesn’t change what we need to do.”

I looked at each of the adventurers, hoping they didn’t get cold feet now.

Icezack massaged his brow. “Yes, the dungeon is big. Too big. We’re already in it’s sphere of influence. Which means...”

“If it’s an illusion dungeon, we’ve been in the illusion since the moment we set foot here.” Halo spoke.

“And judging by the hordes of bathelgores we saw in the quest info, it’s got a pretty good chance of being an illusion dungeon.” Maude bit her nails.

Why? Because bathelgores usually only show up one at a time? Or is it something else?

Maude continued. “Well, we can’t leave Ac-Rayate, that’s for sure. The first rule of illusions is that the obvious route to safety always means death. If we’re in an illusion and we retreat through the well we’ll lose our will to fight the illusion and we’ll all die.”

“We came here on a death quest anyways, just cause the damn dungeon’s a little bigger than we expected don’t mean we’re giving up. Leaving was never an option.” Icezack said brusquely.

“You’re right.” Maude relented.

“Once Cassius finishes his divination, we may begin.” Halo said, decisively.

I looked over at where Cassius knelt on a rug he produced from his giant backpack. He closed his eyes, held his palms turned out to the sky, and chanted.

O Humble Kry, Lord of the Lost, watch us as we wander, and bless us, so that you may serve as our center...

While Cassius prayed, I wandered, kicking keys aside pointlessly.

Icezack vanished, saying something about needing a stiff drink.

Maude sat alone on a rooftop, talking... to her shadow? It seemed like?

I ended up in front of the rickety homemade piano on the amphitheater stage. I tapped at the keys, playing an old melody I knew.

“You play?” Rooster hopped onto the stage next to me.

“Just a little... you’re missing a key.”

“The high B flat, I know! It’s the rarest one!”

“They have rarities? Aren’t they all the same?”

“Nope!” Rooster picked up two keys off the ground. When he tapped them both, they made distinctly different tones, despite looking exactly the same.

“See? We’ve got a G and a C sharp. Pretty common.” He tossed the keys over his shoulder. “There are, presumably, 88 different keys. Like a piano! I’ve never been able to find that high B flat though. And I’ve been looking a long, long time!”

Huh.

Rooster began to obsessively pick up keys searching for his B flat, and I left him alone and walked back the way I came.

Halo stood a little ways away from Cassius with her hands folded behind her, staring off at the distance. She had taken off her black cloak because the heat, and now wore just her light armor. I don’t see the cloak on her though. I wonder where she put it.

“Hey, Halo?”

She turned to me.

“You’re the champion of the grand tournament on Chialis-Nor, right? The one that the knights fight in?”

She nodded.

“Did you ever fight a knight named Sir Brighteye?”

She paused, thought about it for a second, and then nodded again.

“Did you kick his ass?”

Halo smiled a little. “Not literally, but I believe, in the words of the announcers, he was beaten, thrashed, and humiliated by me.” She cocked her head to the side. “Does that count?”

I smirked. Wish I could’ve seen that. “That definitely counts. Good work.”

Halo smiled brightly. She reacts well to compliments it seems.

“Hey why’d you say that you weren’t strong when we first met?”

Halo looked at me. “Because I’m powerless.”

What?

“Cassius!” Icezack wandered back, shouting.

“We have our direction?”

Cassius’ eyes opened, glowing with a golden light, and he turned and pointed to the south west.

“We have our direction.”

The five of us stood at the end of the city of Alma, at the edge of the dune of keys, facing the horizon.

Icezack lifted a finger.

A monumental spire of ice lifted out of the ground in front of him, spearing up to the sky, casting aside waves of keys.

He pointed, and the spire turned into a long, covered, icy walkway from here to the horizon, cutting through the dunes spilling a waterfall of keys off to either side.

I can’t even bring myself to be amazed by the sight, to me these four are practically gods, nothing they can do will surprise me.

Rooster waved farewell, Maude’s shadow wrapped around us, and we instantly emerged from the shadows at the end of the long walkway, in front of a completely normal looking set of black double doors with brass handles at the top of a short set of elegant white marble stairs. As long as I didn’t turn my head to look at the jagged wood and glass sticking out all around us like exploded cysts I could almost pretend that this was the entrance to a normal house, not a death dungeon.

Maude snorted. “...What a shitty looking door.” She went up to the handles and pulled. “Locked. Drat, guess we’re done here friends, who knows where we could possibly find a key.”

I don’t know why, but I looked up. There, hanging off a sharp icy protrusion on the top of the end of Icezack’s walkway, I saw a single key that hadn’t been shunted aside, glinting in the light.

As soon as I saw it, it slipped, and with a ring it fell, straight into my hands.

I tapped it against the ice and listened to the sound it made as it rang out.

Oh hey. High B flat. I looked back in the direction of Alma. Is it rare? Or is Rooster just really unlucky?