Chapter 3

Meeting Mentors

June’s eyes filled with a stunning flash of purple light, silently enveloping her form. The flare lasted but an instant, and that same pulling sensation from the scanner returned. June was gone from the ceaseless void she had just left. June stood somewhere new, again.

June swayed slightly. She tried to adjust to being thrown into another unknown chamber, at least she didn’t have a stomach to hurl food out of, thank god for small graces. As she took in the stonework around, her eyes adjusted to the green glow dominating the area. The light spilled from the single largest feature in this space, a giant structure made from fused, oily, black stone.

June’s senses registered something new: warmth. This room was hot, almost searingly so, burning against her bones in a tight embrace. This place felt though it was closing in on her, threatening to wrap her up in a blanket of suffering.

Amid the burning hatred of the forge’s heat stood a twisted shade, warped by the light of the forge. An enormous bulk of muscle and fat. This monstrous form was swinging a gigantic hammer against an anvil, striking a nondescript piece of metal. The gargantuan shadow cast by the looming beast held scary possibilities in June’s panicked mind. The huddled creature looked vaguely humanoid to June, although it was buried beneath a layer of dense leather garments. The hunched figure snapped its head up from the anvil it focused on, registering an intruder in its space. It had stopped mid-swing, and was now staring at June through a heavy pair of darkened goggles.

With how tightly the covers were tied, she could see little tufts of dark cobalt flesh poking out from under gaps. The seams of the garment strained against the rotundity of the smith. The browns and other various colors of the leather outfit clashed with the deep blue hue of visible skin. To June, he looked like a bulging piece of moldy fruit.

“Who in the name of Jergal’s old rotten ass are you?” shouted the hunched form. The words sounded raspy and torn, like the form’s vocal chords hadn’t seen any lubrication other than molten glass in fifty years.

“June, who the hell are you?” She shouted back at the scruffy-looking hulk.

With a gruff, the arm holding the hammer dropped and laid the tool on the anvil. The form removed the goggles and other elements covering its face, revealing what June could see was mostly a stereotypical dwarf, ripped right out of fantasy novels and games. Except for the blue skin. Even his scraggly black beard reminded her of classical figures of that fantasy race.

“Bullin Goldtooth’s the name, craftin’ is ma game,” said the dwarf with a crazed grin. The few teeth showing in his mouth were rotted and pitted. It was a small wonder he had any at all.

June had a ton of questions, and she needed answers, and fast. “What in the fuck is going on?” She shouted at the dwarf. His expression soured as the smile dropped from his face.

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, Bullin continued. “Not a fan of being yanked into undeath, I guess,” said the dwarf in a plaintive tone. “Right, time fer you to learn sumthin,” spat Bullin, as he stared straight through the skeleton in front of him. The grit in his voice had intensified, making his contempt plain as day.

“No, you’re going to let me talk now! I haven’t been able to even figure out where the hell I am.” The shrill noise rattling from her open skeletal mouth rung off of the walls. “I’ve barely spoken a word since I got to wherever the hell this is, so it’s my turn to ask some questions,” shouted the infuriated skele-woman. “First things first, why the fuck am I a skeleton?” June wasn't going to be a pushover.

“You’re dead, innit kinda obvious?” stated the blue-skinned dwarf.

June knew she wouldn’t get anything more than snarky nonsense from the overgrown beard of a man. She decided to drop the question. “No shit sherlock, but I wasn’t before I came here.” June countered with venom in her voice. “OK, how the hell can I even talk right now?”

“That’s easy,” said the dwarf through a cheshire grin. “Since we summoned ya here, ya get a few basic abilities the average undead doesn’t. After all, it wouldn’t do well to have a skeleton that can’t figure their ass from a hole in the ground.”

The dwarf looked her bones up and down. June covered herself out of reflex, before dropping the futile gesture. She was just bones, after all. The man’s black eyes flashed to blue, and fixed upon her.

“And to answer your other question, you’re in the lair of the S-man, Sharth’ax.” he stated. “Now, let’s get to work.” The cobalt flash in his sockets was gone, but the humanoid was still regarding June with a studying gaze. His gaze walked over her face, stopping on her eyes and squinting harder. “I see you met Varric,” spoke the dwarf flatly. “I guess you got your Class Gem from ole Lazar, too?” asked the walking blueberry.

“Who?” asked June. “Wait, Class Gem, you mean this?” June held aloft the Gem she had received from the skeleton in the void.

The dwarf held up his fist and pulled off his heavy leather glove. Buried within the midnight blue flesh of his meaty hands was a familiar uncut gem. This one glowed purple, just like the one June was still holding.

June engaged in a dance of glances at her right hand and back up to the now exposed gem. She was just confirming her suspicions. “Right, I guess what you’re saying is, that I’m magical?” asked the girl. A nod answered her question.

“Old man, creepy. Looks like he fell outta the ugly tree and hit every branch?” Said the fat man, smiling and answering her other question.

For the first time since whoever had dragged her to this nightmarish place, June cracked a smirk. Hearing someone actually be less of a standoffish weirdo was refreshing. “Listen, before we continue whatever this is, could you turn down the heat in here?” June gestured wildly to the stone room around her.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” gruffed the leather-covered humanoid, before turning back to the forge. He held a hand to a small crystal set into the stone furnace, and the green glow died down. After a few seconds, the suffocating haze abated with it. The dwarf removed his dark leather apron, draping it over a nearby box.

After finally overcoming the searing light and heat, June could visually explore the place in a more thorough way, casting her gaze to numerous objects. This was a simply adorned room made of carved stones; littered with tools, metal scraps, and a host of other junk. The rough-hewn stone walls formed a long rectangle shape, with the forge dominating the space. Arranged against some walls rested barrels filled with unknown liquids and many stacks of diverse materials. Some were metallic, others came from natural sources she could vaguely recognize, plants and such. There was a box of what appeared to be leathers and fabrics in one corner. A bunch of other crates sat stacked among the mess.

The larger humanoid let June take a moment to glance around, standing with his arms crossed, watching her closely.

After her cursory exploration was done, June wanted to get right to the point. “So I’ll just make it plain. Why am I here?” asked June.

“Since you’re being so forward, I suppose I should too,” said the dwarf gruffly. “Whatever you were before, that’s not you now. You’re a servant, and you’re gonna to do the job ya been given, without question.” Bullin punctuated his sentence with raised eyebrows. This wasn’t up for debate, but June was fierce, and didn't feel like just rolling over.

“And just how are you going to make me do that?” inquired June, sassing the rotund man.

“I could think of a few ways,” spoke Bullin, before closing the gap between the two in a single step. For a moment, Bullin’s eyes burned and peered right through her. “But mostly because I know you don’t want to join some of the more uppity bones behind you.” The dwarf pointed to the same stacked crates she had seen earlier. Following his finger, June saw burned and blackened bones piled high in one set of crates. “And if you doubt my capability, let me show you somethin’,” the dwarf held out his fist, and the gem embedded there glowed. A status window appeared before June.

Name Class Levels Affinities Attributes Skills Bullin Goldtooth Tradesman

Total Level: 56

Class: Tier 3

Death (Racial Magic)

Goblinoid (Racial Combat)

Strength: 124

Endurance: 112

Agility: 31

Willpower: 33

Intelligence: 30

Two-Handed Weapons: Tier 3

Combat Prowess: Tier 2

Physical Resistance: Tier 2

Magic Resistance: Tier 2

Leatherworking: Tier 3

Smithing: Tier 4

Magic Crafting: Tier 4

Alchemy: Tier 4

Gathering: Tier 3

Arcane Prowess: Tier 3

Life Magic: Tier 2

Death Magic: Tier 2

Fire Magic: Tier 1

The information on the window stunned her. This was genuinely a build she would have seen inside the MMO. The class system even appeared to be the same. The new skeleton felt more than a little apprehensive about how to proceed with that new information. June felt dark, absurd laughter bubbling up from her stomach. She clamped down on it, hard. “So this is Duneria,” she said aloud.

“Well yeah, where did you think you were?” asked the dwarf, looking at June through squinted eyes. “For someone so ready to question everything, you seem to know a lot,” sarcastically quipped the giant.

June knew it was a good idea to get on this monster’s good side, June took on a more agreeable tone. Acting plainly defeated, June shook her head and moved past the obvious jape. “So, what is this Class Gem you keep mentioning?”

“The Class Gem is a focal point of sorts,” explained the bearded man. The dwarf held out his hand, plainly indicating that June should hand hers over. “Since you’re listening instead of shouting now, let me explain with a visual demonstration.“ He held it under his gaze for a few seconds, as it glowed blue with a dim light.

“Oh great, here we go again,” June thought as she was inundated with that all too familiar stretching feeling. Thankfully, it ended just as quickly as it began.

The two of them were now standing on a precipice. June looked over the edge and gawked. Beneath their feet, aside from the mass of grey stone, sat a massive chasm. Within a titanic struggle was taking place. It wasn’t a battle between humans or any known force, but a battle of the elements. A rush of sounds played at her senses. Thudding booms intermingled with crackling and cracking as the wondrous nightmare unfolded. The cacophonous orchestra played its tune with all the grace of a gorilla. Rising and falling, noises crushing each other fought just like the pillars of flame and earth. Each time a noise petered out, it was strangled into silence before another crash took over.

June watched as a mountain of soil jutted up from amid the chaotic melee, before being ripped to shreds by a whirlwind of fire. More fire rolled across the edges of the hole, scorching the rock in its wake. Water frothed out of every hole in the rock, trying to dampen the flame’s encroachment. Gusts of wind whipped away the boiling steam of their duel at every moment of the ceaseless fighting. Lightning danced across the surface of it all, leaping between gaps in the rock, desperate to escape the chaos. But for every move one elemental form made, another attacked and sundered the tendril.

June turned around and saw an unending void surrounding her. This arena of the elements was truly alone in the vacuum. Massive tendrils of light held aloft the stone she and Bullin stood on. If June could see them, she would witness a monumental struggle between light and dark playing out beneath her feet. Shadowed veins tried to travel their way down the beams of light, before being cooked with searing heat and flaking away.

June didn’t speak for a few seconds as she took in the brawl below. “Where are we?“ she croaked out.

“We’re inside your Gem, in a way,“ said the dwarf beside her. “This is where your mana core is located, and I must say, it’s quite a sight.“ He took a breath before continuing, “Most undead don’t even get this far, the summoning and binding process destroys their cores.“

June thought about the possibilities. Everything she knew about mana from RPGs suggested that she had infinite possibilities ahead of her. “So you’re saying I can control all of this?“ said June, as she gestured to the hellish pit below.

Shaking his head, Bullin continued, “not at the moment, but maybe in the far-flung future.“

Bullin and June didn’t move or speak for a few more seconds, staring off into the elemental throw down below.

Bullin looked down at June, who was still staring off into the melee, lost in thought. Bullin reached for her shoulder for a split second and then decided against it. Instead, he spoke in a soft, father-like tone. “Listen, we really got off on the wrong foot,” said the dwarf as he tried to catch her far-off gaze. “You have a bright future here. What came before isn’t important, not to you or anyone else,“ he said, as a small smile played on Bullin’s lips. A gleam shone is his black eyes.

June avoided his look, instead opting to look off to the side.

“For now, though, I can show you something you might like,“ Bullin said as he stroked the gem embedded in his hand. “Close your eyes, and think about the first things you saw when you held that gem.”

June did so. At first, all she could hear was the din of the elemental mess below, but as she relaxed, that faded. Taking deep breaths, she tried to forget where she was and focus on Bullin’s directions. Images flooded back to the surface of her mind.

June settled on the image of the forest. But this time, there was no sense of impending doom. No approaching steps of unseen giants. Instead, she heard the sounds of chirping birds, a slow bellow of a weak gust of wind. The needles crunched beneath her feet. Other sounds could be heard deeper into the ethereal timbers. Through a calm voice, Bullin directed June to follow the sounds, trace them back to their source. The rushing noise of a waterfall crept into her periphery. Walking further, June passed by countless trees and ferns as she got closer to the sound. As it got louder, her feet seemed to carry her faster towards the source.

Seconds turned into minutes, which morphed into hours. As June wandered under the lulling song that Bullin sang, the sound of the water got even louder. Ahead of her, June saw nothing but more trees, but curiously, the sound of water was still there. The gentle rush became a deafening roar, and with one step further, June lost her footing. She felt the sensation of falling. The next second, June found her skeletal form floating amid a formless void.

She would have thought that the area would be bathed in darkness, but a small glimmer of light could be seen below her.

“Do you see it?“ asked the echoing voice of Bullin. “That’s your core, go grab it.“

The light grew brighter as June swam toward it. The surrounding blackness retreated as she pushed through it, being pushed back by the thrumming effervescence of that orb of light.

“There’s a lot more to it than this, but for now, just touch it.”

The skeleton gritted her teeth and said, “OK…“ June reached out and touched the orb with hands that were visibly shaking. Her world shifted. June felt an electric surge run through her bones. Another damned flash filled her vision as energy flowed between the sphere and her body. As more energy passed, June stiffened and felt herself being pulled forward. A roar of sound could be heard, she recognized it. It was that same din of the elemental chaos she had first witnessed, trusting the strange compulsion of strange curiosity, she let herself fall.

The instant her consciousness returned, June found herself staring back out over that elemental void. But now, something new filled her vision, blocking out the view of the chaos below. She saw a familiar gold-fringed status window again. The next thing she noticed as her sense came back was that the Gem was gone. Turning her hands over, she saw what she expected, the gem had somehow embedded itself into her dominant hand. The mind-bending idea of being inside a stone that she could see on her body tore at her awareness of space and time. But her curiosity got the better of her panic in that moment. Putting the thought aside, she focused on the window ahead of her.

Elite Class Unlocked Summoner Tier 1 (Mage Tier 1/Tradesman Tier 1) You possess the nature to control the elements and bend them to your will. What path will you take? The world is laid out before you, waiting to be bathed in the shadow of greed, or burned away with the fire of your desire. Choose wisely. Please choose a magic school to continue on your journey. Class Skill Unlocked Arcane Prowess (Tier 1) Class Ability Unlocked Mana Sense

Coming out of her pondering, June turned to Bullin, burning with questions. “So if I’m a Mage, this says I need to pick a School. “ Drawing on her wisdom from within Duneria, this was already a departure. In the MMO, you just unlocked all the schools at once, and could learn spells as you leveled. Mana Sense also made no sense. The Tradesman class possibly explained why she had been sent to Bullin. June’s mind flashed back to the first glimpse of that heavily bejeweled skeleton from the ‘scanner‘. Had she seen something in June that no one else had? Yet another idea to explore later, it seemed.

Interrupting her thought, Bullin answered her question. “That’s your choice to make, it’s entirely up to you.” Sensing that June was confused, judging by her careful studying of the pane, Bullin interjected. “Let me show you something else.” He paused for a second as he let June remain focused on her status window. She turned to face him, listening more closely to his words. "Before you get too deep into thinking about magic, you need to learn about Mana," stated the dwarf. Bullin held out his hand, with his palm facing the skeleton. She took it, being consumed by another flash of light.