“Y-yes,” said Elise. “How? Is that orb a translator?”

“It is,” said the king. “I am King Hallbjorn. Do you have a name?”

“Elise. You called me ‘Fated One’ earlier. What does that mean?”

“It means you are the Fated One. You bear the Rune of Fate.”

“The Rune of-?”

Elise’s eyes widened with understanding, and she went to check her status window. The skill {Mark of Fate} was still there where she had nearly forgotten about it. However, as she watched, the name and description blurred and morphed. {Rune of Fate}, it now read, and the description was no longer blank, though it wasn’t really any better than before. All it said was “A rune that” followed by a bunch of gibberish.

“I see,” she said. “But what does that mean? Why were all those people so happy to see me?”

“Whenever one appears bearing the Rune of Fate, the world undergoes a change. Sometimes, that is for the better. Others, it is not. There is an old dwarven prophecy stating that the Fated One will return us to the days of old, when the dwarves lived on the surface and had as much power as the humans and the orcs. My people believe that to be you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. It has not even been a full hour since you arrived, yet some of them are already packing their bags to go to the surface. However, as a king, I cannot blindly follow prophecy, even if it is the will of the people. So tell me: are you our Fated One? Have you come to liberate us?”

Elise looked around nervously. The three dwarves who had brought her in looked at her expectantly, while the older dwarf holding the orb regarded her with undisguised suspicion, and the king’s face was unreadable.

“If you are, then we will give you whatever you desire. Food, riches… whatever else rabbits want. If not, however, you will be treated as any other creature we find trespassing at our gates.”

Elise gulped. The choice was so obvious that it looped back around to being difficult. Was this a test? If it was, then telling the truth and saying that she wasn’t, or that she didn’t know was the right answer. But if it wasn’t, neither of the other two options were good. If she said yes, and she couldn’t do what they asked of her, that would likely turn out worse than if she said no. What did they even do to trespassers? Surely they didn’t execute them, right? She could handle a little prison time.

“I-I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t think so. I didn’t even know you were here. I was just-”

“She is the Fated One!” exclaimed one of the dwarves behind her.

“What?” she said. “But I just-”

She looked up at the king, who, for the first time, was smiling.

Oh no.

“Welcome to Dokkalfheimr,” said the king, getting up from his throne. “Come, this is no place for a conversation with an honored guest. The chefs have prepared a feast.”

“Wait!” said Elise. “Your Majesty-”

“Oh, no need for formalities,” he said.

“I don’t think I’m the Fated One you think I am!”

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t.”

“Then why are you treating me like this?”

“The prophecy stated that the Fated One would deny being the Fated One.”

“But- you-” she sputtered. “You can’t just go along with it because of that! Anyone could deny being the Fated One!”

“Yes, but you also have the Rune of Fate, and when presented with the offer of riches, you still denied it!”

“Wasn’t that a test?”

“It was!”

“But what if I was lying? What if I was just telling you what you wanted to hear?”

“Then why would you bring it to my attention now?” said the king with a chuckle. “Let us go. We don’t want the food to get cold.”

Elise wanted to protest more, but she could see that she was only digging herself deeper into a hole by doing so. She was pretty sure she wasn’t the Fated One that the dwarves were talking about, and she didn’t want them thinking she was. What if they re-emerged on the surface, thinking she would keep them safe, only to be wiped out? There was nothing she could do to stop that.

The “feast” that had been prepared was almost exclusively mushrooms. Elise was fine with that, since she liked mushrooms, but she had been half-expecting there to be more. The weird cows in the other cave looked like they’d make for a decent meal, and if there was one cave like that, there were probably more. Unless she had gotten lucky/unlucky and found the only one in the area, and the dwarves couldn’t get to it because of the plesiosaur and the wyrm.

There was also some kind of dark brown liquid that smelled strongly of mushrooms and even more strongly of alcohol. The dwarves were downing it by the pint, and they were all red in the face and four cups in before any real conversation occurred. Even the old dwarf, whose name she had learned was Jens, was drinking while still clutching the blue translation orb in his off hand.

There were about twenty dwarves present in total. Hallbjorn the king and Jens the wizard were two, the guards who first found her were three more, the important-looking dwarf whose name she still didn’t know was the sixth, and of the rest, half were guards, and half well-dressed dwarves that the king had introduced as his Council. He had also told her their names, but they were too foreign and too many for her to remember them all.

Fifteen minutes into the feast, another dwarf arrived. He was just as tall and broad as any of the others, but his beard was almost non-existent, and his face looked like a child’s.

“Johann!” exclaimed the king. “You’re here! Come and sit down!”

The young dwarf walked through the hall, trying to appear confident, but Elise noticed his eyes nervously glancing all around, and a bead of sweat on his temple. He sat down in an empty chair next to the king. He looked at Elise with curiosity, but looked away when she made eye contact with him.

“Dad, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Johann, this rabbit in front of you is the Fated One, Elise,” said Hallbjorn. “Elise, this is my son, Prince Johann.”

“I’m not the Fated One,” said Elise.

“See?” said the king, glancing at his son. “Go on. Greet her.”

“It- it’s an honor to meet you, Fated One,” said Johann.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” said Elise. “But I’m not the Fated One. Or at least I don’t think I am.”

“That’s exactly what the Fated One would say,” said Hallbjorn, smiling merrily. “By the way, what exactly are you, Elise? I called you a rabbit before, but I’m afraid I’ve only ever seen drawings of rabbits in the old records. You are a rabbit, right?”

“Yes.”

“I see, I see.” He took another swig of the liquor. “It’s been a while, so maybe I’m misremembering, but I don’t remember-” he burped loudly. “I don’t remember seeing any wings on that drawing. And are rabbits normally able to talk?”

“Can you not {Inspect} me?” she asked, looking up from the yellow mushroom she was nibbling on.

“{Inspect}?!” he exclaimed before roaring with laughter. “If I could do that, we wouldn’t still be trapped down here, would we now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Eh? You really-? Wait, do you have {Inspect}?”

“Is- is that not normal?”

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The king stared at her for a few moments, dumbfounded, then burst out into laughter again.

“As expected of the Fated One!”

He pounded his fist on the table, and the others imitated him, shouting triumphantly.

“Wait, what’s so special about {Inspect}?” she asked

“It is a skill that normally cannot be learned until one’s class reaches the 7th tier, and that is only for Legendary classes,” said Jens. “If any of us had {Inspect} we would not be weak enough to be forced into hiding like this.”

“I’m not at 7th tier yet.” She wanted to make sure that was absolutely clear before they could get the wrong idea.

“Aye, we know,” said Hallbjorn. “But the fact that you have {Inspect} is just more proof that you are the Fated One.”

“Hear hear!” said one of the Council members, raising his cup and downing it in one gulp.

“Hear hear!” repeated some of the other dwarves, doing the same.

Johann tried to imitate them, but he couldn’t help but make a face as he swallowed the alcohol. The king wiped the foam off his mouth, burped, and then grinned at Elise.

“Back to what we were talking about before, you said you were a rabbit, right?”

“I was, but I evolved.”

“Evolved?” he said, looking confused. “Are you a monster?”

He only looked confused, and not angry or suspicious, but Elise was still anxious about how she should answer. Calling herself a monster sounded extreme, but at this point, wasn’t it technically true? She certainly wasn’t a humanoid, and though she had started as an ordinary rabbit, the way she was treated by the System was no different from a monster.

System, am I a monster? she thought

“Yes. By $%^& standards, you are defined as a monster.”

That cleared the semantics of it up at least, but she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to call herself a monster. It just felt wrong.

“Yes,” she said. “But I’m not monstrous. I’m just a rabbit that evolved. I’m a Lesser Fey now.”

She had hoped the additional qualifiers would help put the dwarves’ minds at ease. Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect. As soon as she finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent, and she was met with looks of suspicion, anger, and in some cases, outright hatred. Even Johann was looking at her as if he had just found out she killed his mother.

“A filthy Fey dares to impersonate the Fated One!” shouted one of the Council members.

Some of the others began shouting as well, and two even jumped out of their seats and drew their weapons. Elise flew up as high as the ceiling would allow her, which was thankfully quite high.

“Wait! I’m not impersonating anything! I never said I was the Fated One!”

“That’s exactly what someone trying to impersonate the Fated One would say!” replied one of the angry dwarves.

Elise tried to reason with them for a minute more, dodging thrown cups, plates, and utensils while also trying to look for a way out. Only about half the dwarves were actually angry violent, but none of the others took her side.

“ENOUGH!” the king finally said. “I SAID ENOUGH!!”

His voice echoed throughout the room, and the others stopped what they were doing, some paused mid-throw.

“Sit down!” he said. “You’re all acting like children! A fey she may be, but even a fey cannot imitate the Rune of Fate. Now sit down before I make you sit down! We can talk this out like adults.”

The other dwarves reluctantly returned to their seats, but they all continued to glare at Elise, and kept their hands on their weapons or the nearest projectile. The immediate danger was gone, but Elise did not descend.

“Elise, come back down so we can continue our conversation.”

“I don’t feel comfortable down there,” she said. “Can’t we talk from here?”

The king stared at her, then looked around at the other dwarves.

“All of you, move to the other end of the table.”

“But Your Majesty-!”

“Now! Jens, Johann, you stay.”

With much grumbling–mostly curses– the dwarves stood up and moved down the benches away from the king. The tables were very long, so once they had all moved, there were now 30 feet between them and the king. Elise returned to her spot on the table, but kept half her attention on the dwarves behind her, in case one decided to make a move.

“Is it true that you are a Fey?” asked the king.

“Y-yes.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Where did you live before you came here?”

“Well I was on the surface for a while, living with-” she almost said humans, but she had a gut feeling that that was a bad idea. “-with family. Then we were attacked by a strong monster, so I fled into some tunnels underground. I found this place while exploring.”

“Tunnels? What tunnels? There are only three kinds of tunnels here: our tunnels, monster tunnels, and the tunnels of the thrice-damned ghouls.”

“Ghouls?”

“What kind of tunnels were you in?”

“Monster tunnels. There was a wyrm– an Earth Wyrm– and it made some tunnels. I was living there before I found this place.”

“With the Earth Wyrm?” the king said, raising an eyebrow. “We know of that creature, and it is not one that would be able to live with another. How did you survive?”

“It’s dead,” she replied. “I killed it.” The king’s eyes widened. “I found it while it was evolving. All I did was break its evolution cocoon. I didn’t actually fight it.”

Comprehension dawned on his face.

“I see. Then you are not with the ghouls?”

“Gh-ghouls? I’ve never met a ghoul.”

“You might know them as Drow.” He spat that last word out as if it was offensive for him to even say it.

“I’ve never met one of them.”

“Good. Best you don’t. Nasty, arrogant little buggers they are. Always creeping around in the dark and killing our guards whenever they can. You’re lucky you found us instead of them. They worship the Fey Goddess, Titania. They would have brainwashed you into worshiping her too. They might have even tried to sacrifice you to her. They’ve done it before.”

Elise shuddered.

“Your Majesty, we can’t simply trust her words,” said Jens. “The ghouls are devious. She could be a spy.”

“I’m not a spy!”

“That’s exactly what a spy would say!” called a voice from the other end of the table.

“Quiet!” said the king. “Jens, I will not blindly trust her. However, I do not believe her to be an evil creature. If she was truly a spy, she wouldn’t have told us she was a fey. And if she was with the ghouls and not a spy, she wouldn’t have come to our city in the first place.”

“Your Majesty, the fact that you believe so is exactly why I think she could be. She may be an expert, and everything she’s done thus far has been calculated to earn your trust.”

“It wasn’t!” protested Elise. “How would I even do that?”

“I don’t know,” replied Jens, leaning toward her. “How would you do that?”

“What?”

“Jens, I will take your advice into account,” said the king. “However, for now, I will choose to believe her.”

“I-!” Jens pursed his lips and bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I believe that this feast has come to its end,” said the king, getting up from his seat.

The state of the room agreed with him. More than half the food that had not already been eaten was now on the floor, as were most of the utensils. The stone plates and cups were mostly shattered, though the pitchers of the mushroom alcohol were still intact.

“Elise, Jens and I will now show you to your room. The rest of you, clean this mess up.”

The room that had been prepared for Elise was clearly one that was originally meant for another dwarf, not a rabbit. Still, it was nice, or at least as nice as an underground cave room could be. There was a stone desk and stone bookshelves, and a stone bed with a thin mattress made of a material she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t as good as Sophie’s bed, but it was better than the ground.

After seeing her room and giving her approval, the king then showed her a few more important locations, such as the bath and the pantry, as well as a library and even his own chambers. Jens protested showing Elise that last place, saying that if she was an assassin, he had just shown her where to go, but the king waved him off, and said that it wasn’t as if it was a secret, and that Elise needed to know in case of emergency.

“Jens, is there anything else I’m forgetting?” asked the king once they returned to Elise’s new chambers.

“I don’t believe so, Your Majesty.”

“Then Elise, do you have any questions?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“I told you to call me Hallbjorn. I’ll search for a tutor to teach you our language later tonight. We can’t have Jens just follow you around all day so that we know what you’re saying. He will still be present for the first few until you can learn the basics, but after that, I would like my wizard back.

“For now, I must speak with my council. Will you be alright here alone?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

“Good. I will see you again later tonight once things have settled down a bit more, and we can discuss the future in greater detail.”

“That sounds good to me, Your- I mean Hallbjorn.”

The king smiled at her, then the orb in Jens’ hands stopped glowing and the two made their exit. They didn’t lock the door behind them, or at least it didn’t sound like they did, but Elise couldn’t help but feel almost like a prisoner.

Her room was located on top of one of the towers in the castle, and the only exit other than the main door was a window overlooking the city. The window sill was wide enough that she could comfortably sit there, so she jumped up and looked out.

There was still a crowd outside the city gates, with a wall of shield-bearing dwarves holding them back. It hadn’t gotten any smaller since she entered the castle; if anything, it had grown. They still seemed relatively happy, meaning the news that she was a fey hadn’t gotten out of the castle yet, but there was an uneasy tension over the whole area.

About half an hour later, the king emerged from the main gate, flanked by a few of his Council members and Jens. He stood in the center of the ring formed by the shield-bearers and cleared his throat. Jens turned on his blue orb again, and Elise perked up, hoping she would be able to understand what was said, but it was not the translation feature that he enabled. Instead, he gave the king a microphone effect, so that he could be heard throughout the entire city.

She had no idea what he said, but whatever it was left the crowd disappointed. They were still not angry, which was good, but they did disperse, and Elise could hear a pervasive rumble from all the grumbling that was going on.

Later that night, she was summoned back down from her room into the king’s office. The office was a square room with carvings on the walls that she assumed to be depictions of the former dwarven kings. There were three desks made of stone, one in the back at which Hallbjorn sat, and two on the side. Jens sat in the desk to her right with his orb on the table, looking very tired.

“The Council has discussed what to do about you,” said Hallbjorn.

“Wh-what did they decide?” asked Elise.