I didn’t use to be a big drinker on Earth. It wasn’t even in my top 10 things to do; I hated giving up control and drinking alone. I didn’t have many friends, and the dollars and cents side of me couldn’t pay for a drink at a bar when I could buy a bottle for that price.

Yet, here I was at a bar, the only person drinking. I didn’t feel alone, though. Dave was here, and while he wasn’t human or perhaps even real, he was talking. Blink was also here, and I had no idea how to feel about her anymore.

I thought that I was magically getting a pet when we were bonded. Then she turned into the most amazing killer I had ever seen. She acted like any other pet most of the time. Sleeping in the sun, tripping me when I walk, demanding food, all that. Yet now, because of magic, we could talk some.

She wasn’t the best conversationalist, but she could send me feelings and images of what she was seeing. Personally, I thought she was amazing, but I was still thinking of her as a smart pet. So it was just Dave and me drinking, and he didn’t drink much.

Dave didn’t have tonic water, but he did have something close to club soda, so I was drinking a gin and club soda, without gin but with something else that was almost. I was having clear and something fizzy with a slice of a lime want to be.

“Dave,” I said.

“Yes sir?”

“I am a little confused. I kind of thought that just being able to tell people all about the dungeons and how they move would be kind of a big deal. But, you’re offering me all sorts of advice on them. How come?” I asked.

Dave and his perpetually unclean glass stopped and looked at me. Then, he cracked a small friendly smile that I would expect to see anytime a kid asked the right question in class. “Arn, see, the reason that I can answer so many questions about the dungeons to you and can even tell you some of the secrets of them is because you are a Faithful of the Sisters. They, being the ones that first made dungeons, make it so that if the faithful asked, I would answer.”

I mulled over his answer for a bit. I was kind of worried about it since he was saying that I was one of the faithful, and I wasn’t sure that that lined up. I didn’t worship them, but I did end up calling out to them, and a few of my skills seemed tied to them as well. If I was one of the faithful, then I was likely one of the pragmatic ones asking what they could do for me.

I sipped on my not gen and tonic, “I can see that. I have another question I was hoping you could answer.”

“Don’t know until you ask but if I can I will answer it.”

“What is a dungeon? I know that this,” I said as I pointed around. “Is a dungeon. And that it is to train people to fight the Dark Ones. But what is it, a building, a beast, some sort of computer?”

Dave sat down the glass finally. “So that is kind of hard to explain as they aren’t from here. They are a type of magical construct that is both a thing but also alive to some extent. You know about cores and some of how they work a dungeon is like a core in that it has one but also alive in that it can make new dungeons and level on its own. Like I said, it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Wow, okay so this place is alive. Like I am in the belly of the dungeon?”

“Kind of but not really, this is more it’s home and business. Parts of it will always show up but not all of this is truly part of the dungeon.”

“Okay than how I do I move this if it is this huge?”

Dave stuttered a little in starting to speak. “Y- I can’t tell you.” Then he shrugged his shoulders a little.

“Okay since you can’t tell me how to move it can you tell me how to find what I need to in order to move it?”

Dave just gave me a tight-lipped smile and shook his head no. Then he set down a mug that he hadn’t been holding a poured me a beer from the pitcher that he also hadn’t been holding. “Beer?”

“Sure and do you have some wings I could have too?”

“Yeah, that’s not something that I have access to. No way to modify your body until at least level 25.”

I laughed! “No, chicken wings. To eat..”

“Sadly no I don’t but I can get you roast chicken.”

“Sounds great, how do you get all this stuff anyway?”

“Magic…”

With that, I ate a great dinner of roast chicken and potatoes before I gathered up the supplies I needed to do the Ritual of Remembrance. If Dave couldn’t tell me how to get this thing to move, then I figured I would ask everyone else. I wasn’t sure what I would do with it once I moved it or what, but I figured it would be worth taking now while it was small and easy to get to.

“Blink, I am going to be chanting for a while, do you want to come up or stay down here?” I asked as I moved to the stairs going up a floor.

I felt a happy warmth pass over me. “Stays fires meat,” she sent over the bond.

I chucked a bit when I saw that she was laid out long on the hearth eating a large chunk of meat. She looked quite happy with herself with the fire crackling just a few feet away. “Happy eating, I sent back to her.”

As I set up for the ritual, I got distracted a few times thinking over the past few weeks. I was angry that the goddesses had been keeping me stuck here. I wanted to head south to where Lannah’s home was so that I could meet up with her. I felt, in many ways, responsible for her with the way the contract reads.

I was sure that some of those feelings were because she was the first normal person I had talked with since coming to this world. But, other parts seemed to be different. With how this whole place seemed to work, it was likely related to the contract.

After I got my mind back on the task, I settled down to start the chanting. As I chanted, the world changed again. Slowly the room I was in became a cave the candles I had became the fire.

I stopped my chanting when I saw the old shaman appear. He waved me over to him. So I arose and walked around the fire to sit next to him.

The old man sat slowly drinking his tea from his clay bowl. Once he finished, he looked up at me, “So you have come to chat with us again. In a dungeon no less which makes things more fun.”

“How so?” I asked.

“I am guessing that you are in a safe room right?”

“Yes, it would be foolish to do this out of that room.”

“Very true! Yet, young men do foolish things all the time! No what makes it fun is time in here goes at the same speed as time out of the safe room. So every hour in here is a day in the safe room. Bless Order for the rules she keeps, Bless Chaos for the way she applies those rules!” He said with a smile that only the oldest people could make work. “Now what brings you here. Asim won’t see you because you haven’t committed yourself over to the sisters as of yet.”

“I had a dream when I came into the dungeon about the Ash, saying that he was going to move a dungeon. I asked Dave the bartender about how to find the part that I need to claim and what it looks like but he said he couldn’t tell me. I figured that it would be better to claim and move the dungeon now while it is small and easy.”

The old one seemed to be focused on his breathing and not saying anything. He slowly made himself tea again. “This tea is good, almost as good as the tea my wife could make. I have been making it for thousands of years and still not as good as she could. I miss her.” Then he lapsed back into silence

We sat there for a while, just staring at each other while he once again drank his tea. Then he looked at me and smacked his old lips. “This takes energy to be here both for you and for me. While I love my tea, I am not sure the time spent just drinking it here is not wasted.”

I was getting upset. I told him what was going on. I needed to know how to move the dungeon. “So, are you going to answer my question or not?” I almost yelled.

“Young one what question would that be?” He asked me.

I lost it at that point. “The one I asked! How do I find the part of the dungeon I need to so that I can claim it and what does it look like!” I shouted out while standing up.

“Young one, calm yourself. I am happy to answer any question you ask, but you didn’t ask a question, so I couldn’t answer you.” The old man said with a calm, even tone.

“I told you what I asked Dave, and that he couldn’t help me. It was implied what I needed from you.” I growled out. This guy was actively working to sour my mood.

“Young one, what you imply and what you ask are two different things. Do not expect to find wisdom when you guess what others know and understand. If you have a question ask it but don’t assume you understand what is going on. The job of a Shaman is to give wisdom, even if you become a battle priest you will still need the same skills. Listen and be wise don’t speak where it is not clear.”

Then he clapped his hands and smiled at me. “To answer your question. The central part of the dungeon the part that needs to be moved is always accessible from the exit room. Most of the time it is hidden and some of the time you might have to even break down a wall but it is there. To find it you must look carefully at where the mana flows. When you find it you will know, it will be a floating sphere that glows. You will need to touch the sphere to claim it. Only those who worship the Sisters can. The higher your faith is the easier it is to claim them. Those who have a low faith in the sisters will have to prove they are faithful.”

“Honored elder, thank you for telling them this. Can you tell me what faith is?” I asked.

“Faith is believing in the Sisters, I thought that was apparent. I should have asked.”

“How do I know if my faith is high enough?”

“Oh, that is simple; pull up your faith screen and check. Your faith needs to be above a 25 to be one of the faithful and to go untested should be an additional 25 for each level of the dungeon. So in this case you would need 100.”

I pulled up my faith screen.

Faith

Order: 36

Chaos: 47

Unknown: 12

Redacted: Redacted

“How do I raise my faith?” I asked.

“You believe better by doing.” The old man responded.