Listel and I enter the Ingress Mine dungeon. From the front entrance it looks every part the mine as it has a long shaft as far as the eye can see down at a steady slope. There are wooden beams set up to act as braces, but the advantage of having a mine that is a dungeon, a collapse would be impossible unless it was a trap. There is even a set of tracks that run parallel down the center of the tunnel.

“And you’re sure this is the dungeon?”

Listel: “Of course, now draw your sword there is something moving just ahead up there.”

I don’t see anything so I will have to take her word for it. I draw the mythril blade from its scabbard and ready myself as we slowly progress into the shaft. There are scones on the wall with unlit torches and as we progress deeper Listel passes her hand over each one causing it to light up.

I finally start to see some movement as what looks to be a pair of bats the size of a dog screeching through the air. Listel crosses her arms and leans against one of the braces as the bats reach close enough that I swing my sword.

The bat is big enough it’s kind of a hard target to miss, so once the blade touches its wing it tears through it with what feels like no resistance at all. The swing wasn’t pretty but it managed to sever the entire wing off of one of the bats which causes it to crash into the floor. Out of habit I try to reach out with my other hand to cast a spell, but of course it doesn’t work so instead the bat latches its mouth around my hand reaching halfway between my wrist and elbow before chomping down.

I start to flail my arm but after a few seconds it dons on me to bring the sword around and stab the stupid creature. Being pinned in place by trying to eat my arm makes carving it rather easy. Once it falls to the floor finally dead I start to look over my mangled arm which is in quite a bit of pain, when suddenly I her Listel chortle as something sinks its fangs into my leg.

The one winged bat thrashes around on my leg as I bring the sword around finally putting an end to it as well. Luckily my armor is pretty effective so the damage to both my arm and leg are not near as bad as I initially thought, it doesn’t stop it from hurting like hell though.

“Alright, you mind fixing me up now?”

Listel: “Quit being a baby, you’ll live.”

“If I had my magic I could take care of it myself!”

Listel: “Well you don’t so get used to it, now let’s go.”

I sigh then start to make my way through the shaft again, until we finally come to a gap in the wall.

“Should we check out what is in there, or just continue on?”

Listel: “It’s your show, I am just along for the ride.”

The path isn’t exactly accommodating as I have to squeeze pass the crevice to enter the room to the side. Listel said this collar is supposed to block magic, and she said skills as well, but with the light flicking in from behind me from the main shaft my [Keen Eye] skill seems to be working well enough that I still have decent visibility.

The room is an oblong square shape, but there doesn’t appear to be anything in it until a torch is tossed through the crack behind me landing at my feet causing two what I thought was coiled ropes in the corner to strike out at me.

One of the serpents latches onto my thigh while coiling around both of my legs, the other strikes at my neck. Luckily I am however able to dodge that one as the first snake causing me to fall. As the snake tightly constricts around my legs the one that propelled itself though the air is making a return pass slithering towards my head.

Pain engulfs me as I can begin to feel the popping and cracking in my legs, but I manage to swing my sword above me to sever the head of the snake going for my face. As my leg twists in a peculiar fashion with a crackling noise I manage to stab the other snake in the head as well.

I try to pull myself from the now dead snakes clutches but the pain is simply excruciating…

Listel: “Alright, I guess I will heal you up, come here and I will take care of it.” –She says while still on the other side of the crevice.-

“I don’t think… I can make back through there like this.” –I say while dragging my limp lower half of my body free of the snake.-

At least the snake wasn’t venomous, because other than the broken bones I am not feeling any effects from its bite.

Listel: “Well you’re not going to see me squeeze though there. Hurry up!”

“You’re horrid…” –I say while dragging myself across the floor towards the opening.-

I have to stop after a few feet however breathing heavily while in unbearable pain. I don’t know exactly how long it took me, and I am sure I blacked out several times but eventually I finally fall to the floor at Listel’s feet after pulling myself though the tight crevice.

With raspy breath and a sweat covered brow I look up to Listel that just clicks her tongue saying. “Looks like it did a real number on you. Looks like it broke both your legs and your pelvis.”

She then roughly flips me over causing me to black out again. When I come to the pain has faded and I can feel my toes again. I manage to sit up and twist both my ankles around making sure they work.

Listel: “About time you wake up, its rather rude to fall asleep while someone is trying to help you.”

My legs are still a bit wobbly as I pull myself to my feet. “How long was I out…?”

Listel: “At least 45 minutes to an hour.”

“So are you happy now? Can we go now?”

Listel: “What are you talking about, we have barely even scratched the surface of this dungeon. Now hurry up we are burning daylight.”

I find my sword propped up next to the wall. I know I didn’t bring it back though the crevice with me so Listel must of went and got it, so her entire comment about not squeezing though the crevice to help me was total bull.

As I move over to pick it up Listel says. “You know you are lucky the dungeon didn’t store that after you left the room. That sword is far harder to replace then you are you know.”

“Well sorry for being such a disappointment.” –I say while snatching up the sword and then continue to hobble down the mine shaft.-

As we continue on I encounter two more pairs of the bats but manage to deal with both with far less difficulty then the first set, and I encounter another crevice I toss one of the torches Listel lit in before squeezing though to investigate.

This time the room seems to be devoid of monsters, but there is a sizable chest against the far wall. It’s at this moment I realize this room must be some form of trap. I wish I took more skills when I had the chance. Now I just have to figure out where and what kind of traps are here with me.

Now if just the chest is a trap then I should be able to just leave it be and get out of here, but who is to say if that is the only trap.

Listel: “What are you doing? Grab the stuff from the chest and let go.”

“Surely the chest is a trap, we should just leave it and keep going.”

Listel: “You know how much gold I have spent on you already? You can at least start to make it up by getting some loot, just disable the 3 traps and grab the dagger from the chest and lets go.”

“If you know all that including what’s in the chest can’t you at least give me a hand?”

Listel: “This is your show I am just along for the ride, besides I already told you how many traps there are you just got to take care of them now.”

“I don’t have any skills to detect, or disable traps so how am I supposed to do that?”

Listel: “Learn, just like everyone else.”

I sigh then look over the room. I don’t see any trip wires, the floor is rock, but it’s of a natural texture, so there are no discolored tiles or anything. Since Listel said there are 3 traps I am sure one is on the chest, so 2 have to be somewhere else in the room.

I wish I used more traps in my own dungeon that way I knew more about the different types of activators, but thinking of that is just causing my neck to burn so it’s not helping… Well I do know that where I am standing must be safe, and the torch being tossed though didn’t set anything off so where it is at should be safe.

I hold my breath as I take a step forward as close as I can to the torch… Nothing… Well I guess that’s a good sign. I bend down and pick the torch back up. I toss it forward again to see if it triggers again but again it just lands on the floor and nothing happens.

“Are you sure there are 3 traps in here?”

Listel: “Are you saying you don’t trust me?”

“Of course I don’t trust you!”

Something comes flying from behind me, over my shoulder landing a few feet in front of me between where I stand and where the torch is, causing large stone spikes to launch from the wall. I quickly dive back but still get caught by a spike as it pierces my stomach.

“Gah!” –I was in the process of diving so I am airborne as the spike wrenches me through the air.-

Listel: “Oh quit being a baby something like that isn’t going to kill you, and now you only got 2 left to worry around.”

I pull myself from the spike which in itself is quite painful. I think it if wasn’t for my armor I would have been run clear though like a kabob, but It didn’t pierce all the way through me there is still a massive wound in my stomach though. Any normal human would be bleeding out right now, but even though there is quite a bit of blood, it is still not as much as it should be and no more is pouring out of the wound.

The pain however is still very much the same as I double over while holding my hand over the wound. After a few more moments I manage to stand back up straight while surveying the room.

The earthen spikes have still not retracted so now the room is a maze of spikes and I can’t even see the chest on the other side of the room now.

“Alright, can I come back now?”

Listel: “Have you gotten the dagger yet?”

I sigh… Well the spikes might be able to help if I climb through them without touching the walls or floor I should be able to prevent any more traps going off at least till I get to the chest that is. Climbing and squeezing though the spaces between the spikes is quite painful on my stomach, but I eventually make it to the far side of the room and I straddle a spike with the chest about a foot below me on the right.

Laying down on the spike I try to get a closer look at the chest, checking every inch of it for some kind of activator. I can’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean much. If any more spikes trigger there will be no room left so I can only hope that is not the trap. I decide instead of opening the box I cautiously lift it off the floor.

A few panic filled seconds later nothing seems to happen so I then take the box and try to make my way back through the spikes. It proves to be quite difficult as the box keeps getting hung and I end up having to take a different path but eventually I make it back out of the spikes with the box intact.

The chest isn’t attached to anything so if one of the three traps is indeed the chest it has to be something in it, maybe a spring trap, or poison gas or something when you open it. I feel like throwing it at Listel, but I find the chest won’t fit though the crevice…

Well crap I guess I have to open it then. I inspect the box again, it won’t help much if it’s a gas, but if the activator is in the latch I might have a way to bypass it by popping the hinges in the back instead. I was just trying to pry off the hinges but with the mythril sword I easily just end up cutting them off instead.

No gas seems to be leaking from the box as there is a bit of a crack though the back side of it now, so that is a plus. I decide to slowly try to open the box away from me while trying to drop the contents on the floor.

I get it open far enough to see the dagger as I try to get it out it gets hung so I shake the box a bit with the chest then jerks out of my hand hitting the floor the lid flops open with a spike sticking into the front on the box.

I pick up the dagger that fell out in the process and it looks to be nothing more than a run of the mill steel stiletto type dagger… I slide it into my belt and look at the chest a bit closer. Apparently the front latch was the activator and it was meant to fling the spike as you opened it. I guess when I opened it from the back it was just putting just enough pressure on the latch that when I shook it the trap triggered without anywhere to go the spike just lodged into the front of the chest.

I climb back though the crevice careful with the wound on my stomach, I then pull the dagger from my waist and toss it at Listel.

“There! There is your stupid dagger! It doesn’t look anything better than a steel dagger.”

Listel tosses it back at me while saying. “What do you expect? This is classified as a starter dungeon.”

“Then what all was that about? You wanted me to just suffer through all that for the fun of it?”

Listel: “Not for the fun of it, for the learning experience. You managed the chest quite well, although it was a bit inelegant. You could have just cut a side out of the box with your sword and the trap would have never triggered.”

“How could I have known that? For all I knew the chest was filled with poison gas!”

Listel: “Well see you have the smarts, you just need the experience.”

“Well can you at least do something about this gaping hole in my gut, since you were the one that set it off.”

Listel: “Speaking of that, you grabbed my boot right?”

“Your boot?”

She wiggles her bare clawed toes. “Yes my boot…” –she then clicks her tongue.- “Go back and get it and I will think about healing the wound.”

I sigh and then crawl back though the crevice.

Belinda’s PoV

I was up all night sending messages to every dungeon core in the book. Most of the messages were the same but a few for the dungeon cores we know where a bit personalized like the ones I sent to Dawn, Twilight, and Inari.

I haven’t received much replies, Inari seemed to be really worried I of course used the communication parchment to let her know instead of [Menu]. Some of the cores that respond are just asking if I was serious, and I received messages from the elders advising me against taking such action, but if they are truly not going to help me find Two-Twelve I will do whatever it takes. At some point Lilah or one of the other two must have put a blanket over me, but when I woke up leaning over the desk there was a blanket on me and the three were paying attention to the screens for the dungeon.

“Thanks girls…”

Lila: “Of course Miss Belinda.”

Lilah: “Did Belinda have any luck in finding Master?”

“Not yet, but it’s only been a few hours since the last message was sent.”

Lylah: “Can Miss Belinda really hold up on the deal though if one of the dungeons comes though? We don’t have anywhere near enough of the 100,000xp it takes to summon a Divine Being…”

“Well it includes a bit of luck and speculation at this point, but Azami became a Divine Elf when we accepted her making her one of Two-Twelve’s special boss monsters. If I understand it right Two-Twelve should have at least 1 more of thosespecial boss monsters available, so we should be able to make one that way.”

Lilah: “But where would Belinda get someone willing to join a dungeon like that?”

“Well I am ashamed to admit, but I was thinking if this does work I would buy a slave. I hate to do things that way, but in truth the slave would be highly coveted by the other dungeon core, so I am sure it would be a life better than a normal slave even if it was in the service of a dungeon.”

Lylah: “But would master really be ok with such a thing.”

“We have to find him first, and he can yell at me all he wants for it when he is back, but he has to be home to do that.” –I say fighting back some tears.-

The three little bunnies surround me and give me a hug.

Lilah: “Don’t worry Belinda… Master will be home soon just wait and see…”

Two-Twelve’s PoV

Since I encountered the room with the dagger, Listel and I have trekked a few more hours into the dungeon, and I have finally graduated from the bats and snakes as we have begun to encounter some kobolds.

Kobolds are something I am used to however so they proved easier than the snakes and bats. Although just looking at them causes me a literal pain in the neck…

I have had to suffer though massive amounts of damage, but unless I am at death’s door, or unable to move Listel doesn’t use her magic to heal me. I have been speared, pounded, pierced, prodded, poked, maimed, mauled, munched, mutilated, cut, sliced, diced, burned, and after a particular acid trap partly melted, and yet Listel hasn’t lifted a finger to help me unless it was to prevent my death.

I can’t even be sure if she is truly trying to teach me anything, or just enjoying watching me suffer, but after hours after clearing a room off the main tunnel she follows me in and slides down in the corner.

“What are you doing now?”

Listel: “Getting some rest of course, it’s almost midnight.”

“What about the monsters?”

Listel: “Well the dungeon can’t summon anything directly into the room, and I got you to guard the door, so what’s the problem?”

“Me? Then when am I supposed to get some rest?”

Listel: “its good training.”

“You know what fine…” -I choose the opposite corner and slide down in it.- “Laura doesn’t care if you torment me but she doesn’t want me dead yet. So I am going to go to sleep. I guess that means you got to protect me!”

A smile creeps over Listel’s face after drawing a line in the air and pulling a ring out of [Shadow-pocket] she slides it on her finger and then casts a spell. A wall of stone fills the door blocking us off from the rest of the dungeon.

Listel: “Now you’re getting somewhere.” –She says as she settles back down into her corner.-

When I awaken Listel is standing over me. She offers me her hand and then pulls me to my feet.

Listel: “Alright then, back to it.”

She draws a line in the air casting [Shadow-pocket] takes the ring off her finger tossing it through then with a wave of her hand the rock wall blocking the entrance disappears.

“So what was the deal with the ring?”

Listel: “lets me maintain a spell even when I am sleeping, you have to be careful though because if you run out of magic while you are asleep, it doesn’t cancel the effect so it could essentially keep you unconscious forever. Something as simple as a [Stone Wall] spell though isn’t even noticeable to my magic though.”

We then set back into the main shaft of the dungeon heading in deeper, when I come in contact with the first group of monsters Listel leans against the wall again and waits. I am getting tired of this so I sheath my sword and just start to walk into the middle of the group.

Listel: “Aye! Have you lost your marbles?”

The wounds are quite painful, and are building up quite quickly, if I am not careful I might actually die, but the moment I was waiting for comes before that happens.

Listel lunges forward taking out the kobolds in a matter of seconds…

Listel: “What are you playing at you fool! They could have killed you!”

“I am tired of the bystander routine, either you help me out, and we get this done a lot quicker, or I leave my sword sheathed.”

Listel clicks her tongue.

Listel: “Fine, but I am not going to take more than half, so you better do your part as well.”

Things really pick up after that, without having to take the groups entirely on my own I am taking far less damage which even not counting the ones Listel kills I am killing far more then I was the previous day. By the end of the second day we have made massive progress, I don’t know how deep we have gotten now, but Listel has a refreshing smile on her face.

Listel: “At this progress we should reach the back of the mine shaft before tomorrow’s up, but she isn’t going to be pulling any punches from here on out.”

“What about the crystal, we are going to leave it intact right?”

Listel: “She hasn’t come out yet and apologized for being on the Mistress’s land, so still too early to tell.”

On the third day of Listel and I making our way through the Ingress Mine dungeon we reach the back of the shaft of the mine.

Listel: “See left turn, we got a few more rooms then it will be a right turn and then the crystal room.”

“You know I have been struggling a bit, but with a solid group of adventurers I haven’t seen a reason why they would close the dungeon.”

Listel: “I have been thinking that as well. Either knowing we are from Laura’s dungeon or just our strength alone she seems to be holding back. She may be trying to store her best monsters in her crystal so we don’t wipe them all out, or she intends to throw them all at us at once to overwhelm us.”

“Well I can understand how she feels…” –A pain in my neck and lost voice prevents me from saying anything more.”

Listel: “Well regardless we just have to press forward.”

Turning left at the back of the mine shaft the walls turn from the natural stone to dull grey stone blocks. The sizes of the rooms are more uniformed in shape. The kobolds however have seemed to skip the crimson stage and went straight to crimson kobold brutes and elders.

I have quite a bit of a problem keeping up with Listel as she tears though the kobolds, and I begin to suffer more and more damage as we progress.

“Without my magic I am about at my limit. My ability with a sword just isn’t good enough.”

Listel: “We are almost done, we just got to cut through!”

When we finally reach the room that makes the right turn Listel stops she then does something she hasn’t done since the start… She heals all my wounds completely.

Listel: “Two more rooms, we can bet on her boss monster being in the next room, and then we just have to deal with the missing monsters whatever they might be. Now I have a pretty good idea what her boss monster might be, and I can handle it alone, but keeping you alive in the process will be tricky, so you have to promise me right now to do your very best.”

“I can’t do my best without my magic.”

Listel: “I mean it!”

I want to argue but she says it with such conviction that is seems out of character for her and she seems to actually be a little worried as well.

“All I can promise is I will give it all I have with the limitations I have been given.”

Listel then cracks a cute smile and simple says. “Good.” Her face then gets serious again. She has only used her brute strength and claws the last two days but before preparing to step into the next room she draws her blade.

We enter the room shoulder to shoulder. Listel quickly waves her free hand and 4 scones in each corner of the room light up revealing a large scaly mass curled up on the floor. As the room lights up the creature raises its head which by itself is as big as I am.

With ruby slit pupil eyes it starts down Listel and me as it gets to its feet. A pain in my neck signifies I have seen a creature like this before during the last battle of Queen’s training. A small earth dragon…

Listel: “I am somewhat curious what you can be trying to recall at a time like this, but we don’t have time right now. Clear your mind!”

Listel preemptively makes the first move launching herself though the air almost quickly then I can even follow. Listel’s sword sinks deeply into one of the shoulder joints of the dragon and it lets out a bellowing roar.

I can feel the sheer pressure of its roar and know a normal person would have been engulfed with [Fear]. The pain in my neck doesn’t fade as I recall how Queen dealt with the dragon she faced hoping to at least not make the same mistakes she did.

I know if I get close to the creature’s mouth it could snap me in half with a single bite so I try to move over to the other shoulder joint replicating Listel’s action. The creature lets out another deafening roar as my sword to pierces its other shoulder.

These mythril blades cut stone and steel alike as if it was butter, yet I struggle to pierce the hide of the dragon. Listel has now moved on as she seems to trying to hack the dragons arm off. As the dragon rears up Listel swiftly jumps back with her sword still in her hand, but I almost suffer the same mistake as Queen and only barely manage to pull the sword free before kicking off from the dragon and crashing on the floor.

Listel takes this opportunity to get at the soft underbelly of the dragon charging right underneath it… I however not feeling near as confident begin to hacking at the creature’s side and rear leg. As the dragon comes crashing back down to all fours Listel rolls to the side and jerks me back as well as the dragons tail comes sweeping past where my head was a fraction of a second previously.

Listel throws me her sword and says. “Take them and climb its back, whatever you do don’t let go!” She then jumps out in front of the dragon kicking it in the jaw drawing its attention.

She is crazy… But I do as she says and try to jump as high as I can by plunging both the swords into the creatures side. I try to make my way up to the dragons back but with Listel’s constant dodging as the dragon swipes, bites, and rends at her makes progress slow.

After kicking it in the chin again and doing a backflip the dragon seems to be preparing a breath attack against her. As it rears up again lightning arcs though the air, but Listel slides underneath it, rolls to one side then begins to climb up.

She quickly climbs past me as I do everything I can to hold on, she grabs one of the swords from my hand moves a few feet up stabs it into the center of the dragons back and then continues her climb up the dragon leaving the sword behind.

Once on its head she flips of the tip of its snout, kicking it in the chin again keeping it focused solely on her. I manage to reach for the other sword and pull myself to the center of its back and just bury the other sword into it as well holding on for dear life.

Listel dodges a few more attacks before she calls out. “Hold on tight! And don’t you dare move one inch from that spot!” She then kicks the dragon in the chin again as he starts to rear up preparing another breath attack.

Listel this time however doesn’t dodge as she channels her magic calling out “[Dark Arcana Blade]!” My neck burns as I recall her using the spell in my dungeon but I hold on with every ounce of strength I got as the room is filled with large sweeping blades of pure darkness.

The blades go in every direction ricochets off the walls, but each time one of the blades comes in contact with the dragon it slices deeply into the creature before disappearing, once the final blade finds its mark the dragon seems to be in bad shape. The only place that seemed to avoid a wound is right where I am.

Listel: “Now Arngrim come!”

I am not sure what she is asking me to do, but I pull on both sword and kick off the dragon and inelegantly crash to the floor as I jump/fall from the dragons back.

Listel moves over and pulls me to my feet I try to hand her back her sword but she shakes her head. “He is all yours now. Go get him Arngrim!”

She then pushes me in the back sending me scooting across the floor till I am directly in front of the dragon. The dragon has clearly seen better days his entire body now covered in deep lacerations including the loss of an entire eye, but when the other eye locks on me he lunges forward trying to snap me up in his mouth.

I take both swords and begin to slash at it as it snaps at me. The swords colliding with its snout and chin don’t seem to faze it much but it at least keeps me from ending up dinner. The dragon then rears up again to release another volley of its lightning breath but a wall of solid rock quickly forms between us right before it fires it off.

Even with the solid stone cracks under the pressure of the lightning and the sound is intense. As soon as the attack ends the wall crumbles leaving me again nose to nose with the dragon. I spend another few minutes just trying not to get eaten by beating it back with the swords but I don’t seem to be getting anywhere.

The dragon prepares another breath attack which is again blocked with a stone wall, but after the wall crumbles I decide I have to try something different. After blocking a few more attempts from the dragon to eat me I try to slide underneath it to get to its softer underside.

I manage to land a few good wounds on the underside of the dragon’s neck and chest but he swiftly tries to smash me with one of his front legs. A swift gust of wind hits the side of me knocking the air out of me, but it manages to slide me out from underneath the dragon as it comes crashing down.

The dragon however seems to be able to lift itself back up completely, so I pull myself back to my feet and start slashing at the side of its head. Being on the side of his head that lost its eye it snaps wildly and I am able to dodge out of the way.

I lay into it with a series of a few more blows but this time when it snaps I roll underneath it and sink both swords into the soft area under its chin. I am surprised however when it quickly jerks its head flinging me sideways and I only manage to hold on to one of the swords.

I crashed with quite a bit of force that time, but I manage to hobble myself back to my feet. With one of the sword still lodged in the underside of its jaw the dragon turns its head locking its one good eye on me again.

As the dragon starts to rear up for another breath attack Listel rushes back in kicking the sword in its bottom jaw hard burying it up to its hilt. The dragon then collapses to the floor. Listel reaches down pulling the sword from the dragon’s head.

Listel: “Still not ready for a dragon, but it wasn’t too shabby. I was starting to get bored though. I think this one is your sword.”

I trade swords with her and then sheath mine while I say. “I thought I almost had it.”

Listel: “Well I did most of the damage to it, and if I wasn’t blocking the breath attacks you wouldn’t have stood a chance. The fight probably would have gone on another 30 minutes before I would have had to finish it off because you would have run out of steam.”

“Well in any case, now what?”

Listel: “Well we can’t leave the dragon alone, there are far too many parts on it that are valuable.”

“What are you going to do throw it over your shoulder and drag it out of here?”

Listel starts at the ground right at the tip of the dragon’s nose and draws a line straight up as high as her hand will reach while casting [Shadow-pocket]. “I thought I would just use magic, but if you want to try that go ahead.”

She then grabs ahold of the dragon and begins to pull on it slowly sliding it though the line. I over back behind it and begin to push. I don’t know if I am helping at all, but somehow we manage to shove the massive creature though the line.

Listel: “Alright, I better heal you up. That should be her strongest monster, but she probably has a bunch of monsters stored in her crystal by now.”

Listel then heals my wounds as we prepare to enter the crystal room. As we enter the door the room appears to be empty, that is all except for a small stone pillar in the middle of the room that has a glowing reddish brown stone growing from it.

Listel: “I always find it tacky when they put it in a pedestal in the middle of the room.”

Childish voice: “I’m sorry you feel that way!”

Listel: “Oh so finally deciding to show yourself?”

A small figure with beady yellow slitted eyes peers at us from behind the pillar. The pillar is only 4 foot tall max so the figure staring at us can’t be more then 2 and a half or 3 feet tall…

Childish voice: “What do you want from me?”

Listel: “Well an apology would be nice, trespassing on my Mistress’s land without permission is a serious crime.”

Childish voice: “Just because Laura’s city became the new capital doesn’t mean she owns everything.”

Listel: “But she has taken the king as her boss monster, so it does.”

Childish voice: “Kingdom borders are human law not ours, we only own what we can cover with our dungeon.”

Listel: “So you have no intention of apologizing for your trespassing.”

Childish voice: “You know as well as I do you are going to do whatever you want and I can’t stop you so either leave me be or kill me.”

Listel: “Very well. Arngrim destroy the crystal.”

“Hold on a minute!”

Listel: “That’s what we came here to do, now do it.”

“Can’t we at least talk this over? There is no reason to kill her.”

Listel: “She disrespects the Mistress, so she must die.”

“You can find someone else to do it then, because I refuse.”

Listel: “Fine.”

Listel draws her sword takes a step forward, but suddenly shoves the sword in my hand and brings it down across the crystal. The crystal shatters into tiny pieces and the pieces fly towards me piercing me. Even though each piece feels like a needle prick they cause no wounds and I can feel a strength and warmth fill me.

The small lizard/toad like creature falls out from behind the pillar jerking against the floor until the light in her eyes fade.

“Why did you do that?! I don’t want to be part of this.”

Listel: “Too late, now we better get out of here before the dungeon starts to collapse.”

Seemingly on cue the room starts to shake and rumble as Listel grabs my wrist and starts dragging me back though the dungeon.