It was only yesterday that the older kids got their first level by beating the monsters in the basement. Tommy said he thinks it might be a baby dungeon but there’s no way for us to be sure about it. Nothing has left the basement so we seem safe for now.

Maybe I could ask Tommy and James to take me down to get my own level! So I start heading toward the kitchen, it’s the last place I saw him at. I round the corner and- huh not here, maybe the porch? I start to make my way through what used to be a dining room once upon a time and before I can make it into said room I hear a voice, Tommy’s voice.

“Nobody else seems to want to help so I guess I’ll trust you, how do we get this started?” Who is he talking to? I poke my head around to look at him, I don’t want to get caught just in case it’s something important or dangerous I’m not supposed to be here for. But nobody else is there, now I’m really confused.

Tommy just looks around for a few more seconds and he locks eyes with me, oh no. My eyes go wide “I wasn’t listening I swear!” Tommy smiles at me.

“It doesn’t matter even if you did hear me, I just found out that it really is a dungeon down there” a dungeon! Aren’t those supposed to be dangerous? “What do we do Tommy?” I need someone to tell me what to do here, I’ve never been to a dungeon before. The only one who had before the basement was Tommy. He carried adventurers bags for them in exchange for some coin.

“We trust it” he said confidently “it wants to help us, and said to trust the rats and spiders. He’s going to send us something that we have to accept, I’m not sure what it is just yet but I’m sure we’ll know when we see it.” With that he turns away and goes to the porch to tell the other kids about what just happened.

So dungeons can talk? How? I don’t think they have a mouth or anything but it sure seemed like Tommy just talked to it, and it talked back. So we get to work with a dungeon now? I just hope it will be better than the orphanage. We barely get anything to eat, except for the rare occasions Tommy or Sara bring in a wild boar front the woods. It’s a bit of a walk and probably just that much harder on the way back to carry the big pig but the food sure is nice.

After a few minutes some sort of display appears. ‘Accept residence’

So we’ll be a pet if the dungeon? Like a monster? Well Tommy said to trust it so here goes nothing. I accept. Suddenly I feel a rush of energy like I just had a full meal! My feet don’t hurt and my skin is warm! It’s almost blissful, but then it’s all yanked away. What happened? Where did that feeling- wait was that the dungeon? What happened to the dungeon?! Tommy grabs me along with the rest of the kids and we all run to the basement.

“Dungeon, sir!” I call out, it’s not answering me, or Tommy, or anyone. Is it ok? “Mr. Dungeon! Are you okay?” The warmth slowly seeps back and I begin to calm. The big rat -panzer I guess, there’s some sort of name over it, I guess that’s how dungeons work, seems to corral us upstairs. It almost feels like it’s trying to say the dungeon is alright. Well that’s a relief, oh but that isn’t. I notice a ton of rats and spiders running all over the house. I’m worried they might attack, but Tommy puts his hand on my shoulder. “Remember Tiara, trust the dungeon.” And I notice the monsters are cleaning! I didn’t know they could do that.

• • • • •

Over the past few weeks everyone gained a few levels by fighting the rats. I was worried at first that the dungeon would be mad but nothing ever happened and the dungeon almost seemed to encourage it by making a rat nip at one of us every now and then.

The only thing that’s really cause any concern was what was happening right now. Panzer was gathering us all in the living room and had us make a circle. I was more confused than ever when panzer started to push me into the center, I start to panic a little but I remember what Tommy said, trust the dungeon. A new notification popped up, ‘Become the voice’ the voice? What does that mean?

I shrug mostly because last time this kind of thing happened it was a good thing and just accept it. A small pain in the back of my head appeared and disappeared just as fast. “Man does this just happen a lot or am I low on mana nowadays?” A voice coming from inside my head says. “Does what happen a lot?”