Night falls over the city. People returning home and enjoying their time in the warmth of their family, others sneaking through the alleys of the city for some shady work. The guards patrolling the streets are the only sign of life visible outside the buildings. Some buildings shine some light through their windows while others are shrouded in complete darkness. One of those buildings is of course the bookstore at the market place in which Violet and Jones still continue their talk.

„Aren’t dungeons the same as the basements of a castle? The place in which they keep and torture the prisoners?“ Violet’s voice fills the sparsely lighted store.

The man sitting in front of her shakes his head. „No and also yes. The dungeons you talk about do exist and are also called that even though many of the people that land in them do deserve it. Somehow. Sometimes…. Probably. But that isn’t what I meant.“

Jones tries to take another sip only to realize his tea is already empty. He puts down his cup before continuing. „The Dungeons I meant are more magical and strange but also not, how do I say it, realistic? Yes, that sounds right.“

He stands up to fill another kettle with tea. „Want some small snacks with your tea?“

„Yes, please.“ Violet empties her cup. „But what do you mean with not realistic? You make it sound like they exist but at the same time they don't.“

He returns with the tea and some cookies. „Because people like me that have an interest in history aren’t sure if they can even exist even though we seem to have enough evidence to assure ourselves of their existence. And that’s the problem. We know they did exist but the last time a Dungeon was officially found was before the practice of Religion just disappeared. But enough of the history let us talk about why the Dungeons could help you.“

Jones fills his cup again and takes a bite out of a cookie. „If what is recorded is true then Dungeons are something akin to a trial or treasure mine. Depends on the way you interpret the texts and their meanings of course. In essence the Dungeons are nothing more than an unnatural almost artificially created cave system filled with monsters and natural treasures. Problem here is that because of high density mana in those caves the rules of Nature as we know them stop making sense.“

Violet leans forward to take a cookie for herself. Wait, make that two. Or three. „But according to what you just told me they aren’t really of much help.“ She takes a bite from one cookie. „Unless they are somehow able to do things like showing me memories no else found in my head?“

Jones sighs. „Even if they could do something like this I wouldn’t count on something as stupid as a gamble for a plan. That would do more harm then what we could account for. No, at this point comes the fairy tale into play or rather the legend it is build around.“

Violet listens as she eats even more cookies and drinks some tea.

„The original legend tells about a small kingdom that once upon a time didn’t yet have a name but was referred to as the Land of the Undead. Every form of undead regardless of their state of undeath was brought here and with them everything else that in the eyes of the people at that time was seen as a bad omen. Dark spirits, darkness spirits, vampires, ghosts, living armors. The list was long. The beings in the lands travelled in groups of their own to help each other until one day a skeleton started learning magic. This skeleton wanted more power and for this reason made a deal with the Nightmares.

The First Living Nightmare was born.

The skeleton, now a lich, started using its immense powers to take control over the different groups of undead and their small communitys and turned them into the first kingdom of undead. It seemed peace and a sense of normalcy could be achieved for the undead but their king hungered for more. Oppression, power abbuse, slavery, torture, illegal experiments. You name it, he did it. He even kidnapped some humans and tried turning them into new undeads, and some others were turned into already existing ones and turned into mindless slaves.

There was one specific woman he took a liking to.

A half human half dwarf woman that got turned into a special variant of the vampires with all the bonuses but without the weaknesses. She was called „The Queen of the Night“ not only because of her new race but also because she became the wife of the lich. She despised the lich for everything he was and would be. So, she tried several times to kill him but the Nightmares kept him alive, always returning him to her side, forever bound together. The Nightmares made her life miserable just like everyone else’s.

Until she stumpled upon a Dungeon.“

He fills his now empty cup before drinking again as his throat started to become dry. Violet is still eating away at the cookies and listening closely to the story he tells.

„Upon finding the Dungeon she and the good friends she made since being kidnapped, a living armor everyone just calls Animo, and the first darkness spirit, known under the name of Hel, planned to use the Dungeon to find help against the lich.

The legend doesn’t tell what happened in the Dungeon itself but it does tell us what happened afterwards.

After successfully emerging from the Dungeon again the queen started a rebellion with her people against the Living Nightmare that forced itself upon them. After a long battle the queen and her friends emerged victorious and sealed the lich away. But she was too late as the lich in her absence caused the surrounding nations to march upon her lands with their armies, ready to exterminate them all.

In a moment of desperation she entered the Dungeon again, fighting through to the deepest end and finding an altar. An altar made for praying to the higher entities which existed in her times. And they answered. The capital of the Lands of the Undead slowly emerged from the ground and rose into the sky creating a safe haven for all of her people. From this moment on the Queen of the Night became the official ruler of the floating kingdom, Hugostan, with her trusted friends as her advisors.“

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Violet stops eating her cookies and leans forward. „So, first of all nice story and second, that is your plan? To find an altar at the end of a Dungeon and trying to pray to whatever is out there for help.“

Jones shakes his head. „That would be plan b if everything fails. But you didn’t listen. She entered the Dungeon twice before praying to the altar. What happened the first time, Violet? What made her and her friends suddenly strong enough to fight against an immortal lich and a Living Nightmare?“

Violet’s eyes widen at the realization and the cookies fall out of her hands. „You mean they got some kind of reward for just reaching something in the Dungeon?“

Jones drinks some tea and eats a cookie before he continues. „My guess is that by reaching that altar itself that entity granted them something which was helping her to fight and seal the lich away, thus ending the nightmare. But until we found a Dungeon and entered it we will not know how accurate my guess is.“

Both of them stop talking for a moment, sitting in silence. Violet starts tapping on the table. „If what the legend tells is true then this is a shot worth taking. But the legend doesn’t say anything about the Dungeon itself so how are we going to do this?“

Jones raises an eyebrow as he answers her. „Really now, dear Violet? It’s a legend so of course some parts will be missing or have been added afterwards. And yes, we do not know anything about it’s location or how to find it. Even If we would look for remnants of the Land of the Undead we probably will not find anything as the time between then and now is too great and the landscapes changed. So, following the information of the legends will not help us. But nothing stops us from finding another one.“

„Based on what I know about you, you either already have the location of one or at least know someone who could know something. But in the current situation I won’t be able to leave to look for it.“ Violet sighs and grabs another cookie.

Jones laughs softly. „You are right about that. I do not know a location yet but I did ask a few friends of mine if they knew anything. So, what is this situation that stops you from leaving?“

Violet begins to tell him about the monster problem, the cult and the guild project. Yes, the author decided to skip this Part because the chapter is already boring enough so let us just skip whatever is skippable while he continues with the boring writing style he has. More work for him, less work for me and maybe a little bit comedy and action later for you. But we all know chapter like this are necessary sometimes so let’s just hope there aren’t too many of them later on.

And yes, stupid comments from me, the Narrator, will continue appear from time to time so prepare yourself for that.

After Violet finishes explaining Jones falls silent and starts stroking his chin. The store fills with silence and the flickering light of the almost extinguished candles. „This does sound as if a great storm is about to hit us and I don’t like the calm before such a storm. And this cult… I get a strange sense of deja-vu from them but I can’t grasp why. I need to look through my things again…“

Violet is a little surprised as she hears Jones mumbling. „You know something? That would be good because the guild doesn’t and we need to wait for the return of the guild master to ask him about it. If you find something please go to the guild and tell Serafiya about it.“ With these words Violet stands up and stretches. „Thank you for your help, old friend, and have a good night. I should go back now.“

Jones also stands up and walks with her to the door. „No need to thank me, Violet. I know you since you appeared in this city all these years ago and I enjoy looking through old documents and learning more about history so this help is more of a side product of my hobby. And a good night to you too, Violet, and remember to stay away from the Nightmares.“

Violet chuckles. „What? No warning to be careful regarding robbers or kidnappers?“

He starts laughing at her joke. „If someone were stupid enough to try that then even the Nightmares would look like a saint to them. So instead of worrying about some poor idiot I would rather worry about my expenses to make more cookies if you and I start meeting more often from now on.“

And with a small chuckle from both of them they now go seperate ways into the night. Jones returns to his living area above the store and our Violet returns to her inn after a small walk to enjoy the silence of the night.

~The next day~

At noon the people of Elderwoods fill the streets of their city with laughter and for the ones willing to listen a symphony of sounds echoes through the streets. The rattling of wooden carriages being pulled over the paved roads, laughter of children playing and running through the streets, merchants calling out to the people to advertise their products, the sound of a hammer striking wood and metal, remnant pieces of the talks of a gathering of housewives mixed in with the rest.

It is a lively little city and Violet decided today to make her way to the adventurer’s guild after she got herself something to eat. So, with a few meat skewers in her hand and in casual clothes instead of her armor, Violet arrives at the guild while she is thinking about how to enjoy the rest of day.

The guild is to this time almost empty. Most of the adventurer went on a quest in the morning and will propably finish it in the evening. Some took a day off after an escort quest or some other long quest and spend their time shopping, preparing for a new adventure the next day or even spending their money in bars or the red light district. A few adventurer remain in the guild for information trading, training or are just waiting to use one of the services the guild offers.

The guild members use this period to take a break. Some others switch with new personnel as they now had finished their work for the day. Someone like Selfiya who just sat down in her spot at the reception desk.

„Meat skewer?“ Selfiya looks up from her work the moment Violet offers her one of the meat skewers she brought with her.

„Oh, thank you Violet. I haven’t had lunch yet and before you ask I did rest last night.“ Selfiya accepts the offered food and starts eating. Both of them enjoy their snack for a moment in silence.

„Excuse me, could I ask you something?“

Just as they finished, from behind Violet a voice comes forth. They both turn around towards the owner of the voice.

In front of them stands a young woman clad in a coat decorated with black feathers. Her black hair reach down to her shoulders. A hairpin decorated with three feathers grace her hair. Her amber coloured eyes hold a sparkle of curiosity as she looks around the guild.

„Yes, how can we help you, Miss?“ Selfiya answers.

The young woman redirects her gaze towards the elf. „Oh, my apologies. I’m new to this place and wanted to ask if you could tell me where I need to go to register myself in the adventurer’s guild. This is the adventurer’s guild, right?“

A small chuckle escapes Selfiya. „Yes, this is the guild and if you want to register as an adventurer you can do that here at the reception. But everybody else is currently enjoying their break so I can take care of this for you. So, I will need a name from you.“

„Ah yes, my name is Raven. Just Raven.“