“We must move the dungeon,” I intoned.

I was back at a gathering of the Shaman. This wasn’t the whole council; I could tell it was only the important ones. The rest had returned to where they were needed. These were the elders who led the Wild Humans by guiding all the chiefs. They were not the rulers but the ones who made the rulers.

We had been going on for the past four hours about the dungeon and where it was. I didn’t mind that it was in my old tribe’s cave. No, the reason that I wanted it moved was that it was too close to the orcs. We were subject to losing access to the cave and the dungeon found in it.

The youngest of the elders spoke, yet again, “We don’t know if we can move it and what would happen if we did.”

I sighed; this had been the fourth time I explained this to them, “Elders, I was given the option to move the dungeon. I just have to get to the floating gem, and it will offer to let me take charge of the dungeon and move it. I can only assume that this is what the Sisters had wanted from the beginning.”

In every group, there is the one that wants to stir up trouble and slow things down till people move at their speed. The elders were no different in this regard, and the youngest was that man. “I don’t doubt that you were offered this, only that it will do as you think it will do.”

“What do you mean esteemed Elder?”

“We don’t know what will happen if you claim the dungeon. Will it follow you around destroying the land where you go? Will it pull you into the gem or place the gem in you? We can’t lose the Ash now can we?”

“Chaos herself raised me up to the Ash; she guided me to the cave where the dungeon was. She drew me in and showed that we could practice and gain power in ways that we couldn’t otherwise. She guided me to the hidden room. Do you truly think that she would lead me someplace that would kill me?

“Well that would be a way to spread Chaos wouldn’t it?”

The third eldest slammed his staff on the ground, “Watch how you speak of the Mistress she doesn’t take kindly to the things that you say about her.”

The youngest stood, “What that she likes Chaos and change? Who gave us fire? Chaos did but did she tell us how to use it or protect us? NO! She didn’t that was Order who blessed us with protection to the coal that Chaos would have us carry. Chaos wants chaos and that is it she doesn’t care about us winning this war all she cares about is her fun. If you were a pawn of Order and not of Chaos I would trust you more. As it is no we shouldn’t touch anything from the Sister of Chaos.”

The third eldest started to rise when the ground shook, and we all fell. A large rock from the top of the cave had dropped on the legs of the youngest elder. The wind started to all blow from the back of the cave, and the fire stopped flickering randomly. The fire was what I was looking at; the flame was still flickering, but it was all in sequence.

A voice from the wind started up. At first, I was unable to hear it over the wailing of the youngest. His pleas for help were loud and demanding. No, it took a few moments for the voice on the winds to be loud enough to be heard.

“Hush for the Sisters speak.” I almost didn’t hear it and then again louder, “HUSH FOR THE SISTERS SPEAK!”

That got through to the whining elder. A boulder on your legs might be painful, but he should be able to endure it. The Youngest was still making noise but nowhere near as loud now. It had moved from that of a yelling to a whimpering.

The voice from the wind stopped, and from the ground, a rumbling voice started. “The Sisters have granted you a dungeon to learn to fight the Dark Ones.”

The wind started to speak, “The Sisters oppose the Dark Ones.”

The ground and the wind spoke again, “The Sisters speak.”

Two light voices from all around us spoke in unison, and yet something was off about the less melodic of the two. Almost as if she was in unison but also adjusting how she spoke just enough to cause your brain to freak just a little. Her voice was pleasant, and I could tell she was the one who first spoke when I was recovering from the orcs.

“We stand united as one against the Dark Ones. They have come to ravish the land and break the world as they have done to so many others. The dungeon we have given you and those like it will train your warriors. It is our creation and so it will fight against the horde as well.”

The voice that was slighting off dropped out. “There are rules the dungeons must follow and rules will be enforced. The one who claims it may walk it without fear. He will be able to guide it to best suit the needs of your people.”

The rich melodic voice stopped, and the pleasant and lilting voice picked up, “The dungeon is a tool to sharpen your edge. However, if you don’t prune it, then it will overrun where you plant it.”

The two voices spoke again, “Dolion, to speak against one sister is to speak against both. You are to be cast out, no longer shaman, no longer part of the flame. Look to your hands, for the fire rejects you.”

The rumbling voice started again. “Spent one hurry for your foe is near.”

I awoke in my bed. I wasn’t sure how I got there; in fact, I was impressed that I was in a bed. It was the first time that I had slept in a bed since I came to this new planet. I saw that all my stats were showing full and that I had no debuffs.

I started to remember last night and the dumb things I had done. I was hoping that Blink would forgive me for calling her Blinkie poo, but I wasn’t going to bring it up if she didn’t.

Whatever the drink was that the Bartender gave me was strong. In fact, I think it was the strongest drink that I had ever had. It took me from being in pain to feeling nothing, and it hit my blood like a freight train. It was one thing that I was going to need to stay away from in the future.

The room that I was in was a small one-bedroom much like what we had been fighting through yesterday. There was a chest, a chair, and a cot, and that was it. Not that I was planning on moving in, but more room could have been nice.

As I got up, my feet brushed over scales just over the floor. Blink snapped up, and I felt her nuzzle my leg a bit as I stood up.

“Blink, I am heading down to see if the barkeep is around. I want to ask him about the dungeon some more and see if I can get some food. Do you want to come?”

The reply I got was less than friendly but included her climbing up into the freshly vacated bed. “Sleep, Eat, Hunt”

I opened the door and saw that I was right; the rooms were above the bar. The banister that I had seen before was for the walkway that I was now on and to my right was a set of stairs going down.

I headed down the stairs and saw that behind the bar, just where I last saw him was the Barkeep.

“Do you sleep?” I asked as I got to the bottom.

“Not truly, I am not here if there isn’t anyone in the safe room.” He told me with a smile.

“Can I get breakfast here?”

“That we can do for you, it is part of safe room access.”

I sat down at the bar, “what options do I have?”

“Bread, meat, and eggs,” He replied with a dry smile.

“Sounds good. May I have a plate?”

“Don’t serve food at the bar makes a mess.”

“So I need to go to the table?”

“Only if ya want food.”

I got up and moved over to the closed table. Just as I was sitting down, the barkeep brought over two plates of food. He sat one down in front of me and the other at where he was sitting.

“Thought you might want company.”

“Thank you, I have a few more questions for you about the dungeon.”

“Wait till we finish eating, I don’t like mixing business with food.” He said as he picked up his fork in one hand and the bread in the other.

We finished quickly. To say that I was delighted about the meal would be an understatement. It had been months since I had bread or eggs, and so it was great. The meat was something fried in little slices. It reminded me of a breakfast steak. As we ate, he didn’t say a word, but as soon as I was done eating, he stood up and took our plates around behind the bar.

I walked up to the bar and grabbed a stool.

The barkeep picked up a glass and started to wipe it down. “So what questions do you have for me?”

“Well, I have lots of questions but I figured that I will start with the most important. What’s your name?”

The man laughed, “Well I get that a lot most of the time on the first night but I guess you were kind of busy. No I don’t have a name but if I have always like the name Sam.”

My face when white as I blanched, “That’s not your name right?”

The keep raised one eyebrow, “No its not I have been called lots of names what is wrong with Sam?”

“I know a Sam and he is anything but as kind as you. He is a vile horrible person who I have to deal with. Just thinking about him makes me kind of twitch.”

“Well, like I said I liked the name but it’s not mine. What name did you think would be good for me?”

“Let’s go with Nick, Bob, or Max, anything but Sam.”

“Okay, Let me think. I think my next favorite name is Dave.”

“Okay Dave, I have something I hope you can help me with. Can you teach me how to read?” I asked with a hopeful smile.

The keep just shook his head, “Sorry son but I can’t teach any skills at all.”

“Is that against the rules or out of your ability?”

“A bit of both. I can answer questions about the dungeon and things in it. Everything else is kind of outside what I can tell. You know how rules go and all right?”

“Yeah, rules make the world go round… So nothing outside of the dungeon. Can you tell me how many floors we are facing and what to expect?”

“To some extent. This is a young dungeon and so only has three floors. You passed the easy part of the dungeon so far. It was the neutral part, moving forward you will get to face the recreations of the minions of the Dark Ones.”

My curiosity was peaked, so I asked, “I have heard of the Dark Ones a few times; who are they?”

Dave shuddered a little, “They are the gods that stand against the Sisters and their allies. Where they go they devourer leaving a waste behind. There is no Chaos where things are gone, there is no order when it is all barren.”

“So the goblins and orcs are sided with the Dark Ones?”

“Yes, and many more, worse yet is when those not born of the Dark Ones are twisted to join. When those who follow Order become oppression and Chaos becomes disharmony those are the worst of the followers of the enemies. The ones who choose to side with the end thinking they will ride out the fall of the world.”

I nodded slowly, taking in what he was saying. “Wow.” I sighed out; that was more than I was thinking I would get. Chaos and Order were fighting to preserve the world, and the Dark Ones were trying to end it.

“Yeah, heavy stuff, but you just need to do your part and work on getting stronger. That’s why the dungeons are around. Train you to fight the Dark Ones and get you ready to face their armies. What level are you anyway?”

“Zero.” I said as I looked at him for a reaction.

Dave seemed to be visibly shocked by my level, “Zero? I wouldn’t try to go any further in. Just leave and wait a day and rerun the top floor a few times till you are at least level 10 then you can finish the dungeon.”

“I kind of can’t go back out that way. There are a few orcs up there along with a dozen or so goblins. They forced us into the dungeon.”

Dave started to laugh, “Yeah you told me that last night but I didn’t think much of it because if they came in we would throw everything we had at them. No, I guess you can’t go out that way. Your best bet then is to go slow and hope to level.”

I shook my head, “I can’t level if I can’t learn to read.”

Dave looked in my eyes when I said that. He slowly lowered the glass he was working on, “Well crap.”