ONE HOUR AGO

High Magus Giles Develie watched the dungeon boundary field with a worried expression. He knew from the meeting with Olivander and Amegnon that there were mana stability problems on the rise, but he hadn't expected another dungeon event this close to the city — let alone in the middle of it — so soon.

A cadre of constables and city guardsmen kept the people back. There wasn't any evidence to suggest that the boundary would grow to consume more of the city than the single estate it was currently covering.

The Rhodes family was prominent in the city, and Giles knew the head of the family very well. The rest of them he knew in passing. They were allies of House Develie, and he would do what he could to help. That wasn't much, unfortunately. He had sent for the head of the family to come back to Serin, but he didn't actually know where the man was, or if he had the resources available to get back quickly. As a magus, he often forgot that not everyone had the ability to draw out long distance transportation rituals.

The real issue with the possibility of a dungeon spawning, were the people that may or may not be inside the barrier. If there was a dungeon forming, the people inside would be stuck trying to clear an unfinished dungeon. It could be challenging and might not be possible. Regardless of whether or not they could clear the dungeon, the dungeon would scale to the highest level currently inside. That could be catastrophic.

"High Magus, I have some news," one of the senior constables at the scene said, jogging up.

"Go ahead," he said to the man, not wanting to bother with formality right now.

"It seems that Lady Leviana Rhodes was the only family member in residence tonight. What's more, is that she sent all the house staff away tonight. She was hosting some kind of business dinner party and had hired some caterers. Apparently our own Constable General McKenzie was one of the guests."

"Any other persons of note? I assume so, given the circles Leviana moves in."

"Indeed. There are a few names of note," the constable handed over a small sheet of paper and Giles looked over the names.

"Some of the younger generation's best and brightest. Damn, if this does become a dungeon it's going to be bad. Both McKenzie and Belethor are around Standard Level one-hundred and fifty."

If they were the highest leveled people in there, it would be challenging to find enough people to clear it. Adventurers would have to come up from Du'la'melio, or Giles might even be forced to portal people in from other cities. If there was anyone with a higher level in there? Giles might have to clear it himself, or open some very expensive guild contracts.

"What about the caterers listed here? Burt and Marge, is there any information on them?"

"I sent someone to look into them, sir. I'm pretty sure they run a produce stand in the market. I think they're pretty successful, but I've heard that Burt is a difficult individual to deal with. We don't know what their levels are, however."

Some commotion coming up the street distracted Giles before he had a chance to speak. An older man driving a cart was swearing at the constables, demanding to be let through.

GIles projected his thoughts to one of the constables who looked back at him. After a quick nod of acknowledgement, they let the irate man with the cart pass.

He pulled up beside Giles and the senior constable and just stared at the dungeon boundary.

"What is this…what's happening?"

"Dungeon boundary. Do you have business at the Rhodes manor?" Giles asked.

"D-dungeon? Are the people inside going to be alright? I know I wanted some payback, but this is a little much."

The man in the cart had calmed down significantly since trying to get in, and he never took his eyes off of the shimmering barrier. He didn't even notice he was next to Giles, otherwise he probably would have been a little less casual.

"It's hard to say. They might be stuck trying to clear an unfinished dungeon. That would be pretty dangerous, and might not even be possible. Do you know anyone inside?"

"Yeah. Well kind of. I was supposed to be catering the party."

"You wouldn't be Burt, by any chance?"

"That's me," Burt said, finally turning to see Giles standing next to him. His eyes went wide and he did a quick bow in his seat. "Begging your pardon, high magus, I didn't realize it was you when I pulled up."

Giles waved away the apology. "Nevermind that. If you're not catering the party, then who is?"

"There were three of them. An older man, well, not old, but not a young man anymore. Then there was another boy and a dog. I think the younger kid's name is Gregory. I think the older magician's name was Orville…no, that's not right. Oliver? It's something like that."

Giles stiffened and the color drained from his face.

"A magician? Olivander? Was he wearing a purple robe?"

"Oh yeah, that sounds right. Olivander. Yep, he had on some fancy purple robes. They looked really comfortable. I didn't ask, but I don't think that he'll part with them."

Giles didn't actually know what level Olivander was, but he knew the man had five classes and was far more powerful than any of the other Magi, besides Amegnon obviously. He guessed a standard level of at least three hundred. They would be lucky if there was one person in the entire city who could clear a level three hundred dungeon.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Sir?" the constable asked, noting the worried expression on Giles' face.

"We might be dealing with a dungeon over level three hundred."

This time it was the senior constable's turn to grow pale.

"Keep this under your hat as much as possible, constable," Giles continued. "We don't need to incite a panic. After all, this boundary might disappear after rebalancing the magic in the area, and absolutely nothing will happen."

Giles didn't entirely believe that would happen, but he could hope. Perhaps his greater hope was that Olivander was inside, and, after realizing what was happening, he figured out a way to prevent the dungeon from forming in the first place. Another thin hope. In the absence of anything better, he would try to prepare the city.

* * *

MEANWHILE, IN MARDARETH

Lily Casumus tended a garden outside her mother's home. She had been staying there for the past month, hoping that at any moment, her younger brother, Olivander, would open up a portal and step through.

She knew she was hoping in vain. Olivander, despite his power, was never one to run home to tell their mother, Muriel, about anything. Whether that was a fantastic accomplishment or, less commonly, a spectacular failure. She figured that he had resigned himself to coming home and telling his mother in person, but would decide to do something ridiculous like walk all the way to Mardareth instead of portaling directly, which he was more than capable of doing.

Lily didn't consider Olivander losing his position as Arch-magus to be a failure. If anything, he had held the position for the longest amount of time in two centuries, and during a time that was relatively thick with war. The fact that he lost his position in a duel instead of stepping down himself would be a bit of a sore point though.

She was wrapping up her work in the garden and stood up, admiring what she had done today. The garden was a small plot of land in front of her childhood home. Freshly weeded and fertilized, with some minor pruning and new mulch, the front of the house looked great.

This part of Mardareth was pretty nice, but that was something no one would ever hear Olivander say. She had often wondered if that was one of the reasons that he disliked coming to see their mother so much. Maybe he just hated the city that much? He did always seem to complain about it, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

After dusting off herself, she put away her gardening tools into her magic storage space and started heading inside.

The house wasn't grand, but it was spacious enough for a family of four. Muriel sat in front of the fireless hearth, knitting something. Her hands moved deftly as she spoke.

"Hmm. Your brother has done something interesting."

"And what's that?"

Ostensibly, Olivander would be on his way home to tell their mother about how he lost the position of Arch-magus. It had to be more about the journey though, since their mother had a clairvoyance skill, and could often see things that were going to happen before they happened.

Muriel had known that Olivander was losing his position before he had even been thrown out of the castle.

"He's undergoing a personal trial right now. It's being sponsored by the god of feasts, Barranch. How unusual."

"I've never even heard of that god."

"He's a relatively minor one," Muriel said. "He mostly stays out of our Realm because there are some slightly more interesting Realms that overlap with his purview. Still, any time a god leaves the Divine Realm, things like this happen."

"Things like what?" Lily asked.

"Personal trials, girl. Do you have something stuck in your ear?"

"Why would personal trials happen when gods leave the Divine Realm?"

Lily wasn't a scholar like her mother and younger brother. Olivander took after Muriel in many ways, while Lily was more like their dear departed father. She missed him all the time, and she always tried to take time for her mother, because she could tell that Muriel missed him too. Some days, however, it just felt like she wanted someone to pick on.

"Divine power cannot stay in our realm. It's just not compatible with it. There are reasons for that, but it's probably easier to just hand wave it for this conversation. Essentially, divine power always wants to return to the divine realm. That's anything imbued with divine energy, or divine beings themselves. When they do come here, they need to bring power with them to sustain themselves and work whatever kind of magic they came to do.

"If you recall, which you really should, bringing a large amount of foreign mana into our world triggers a natural reaction. Dungeon formation. Gods are basically just lumps of power, and they can wield the power they bring with them in miraculous ways. One of those is actively suppressing the world's natural reaction to foreign mana. They can completely stop dungeon formation, or, and this is usually a favorite for them, they can create a custom personal trial."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"Do I look like a god to you? Don't try buttering me up either."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"So a god shows up and throws Olivander into a personal trial?"

"Olivander would have had to do something to gain the god's favor. They don't act randomly."

"Do you think he'll pass?"

"I'd like to believe my son can do anything he sets his mind to. Oh, don't give me that face, the same goes for you, girl, even though you're even worse at keeping a job than he is. But, to answer your question, I assume that Olivander can handle anything a feast trial can send his way."

"And do you think he'll come home afterwards?

"Olivander is like me, eternally stubborn. He'll continue making his way down to the City of Bones. We'll see him eventually."

"You don't just want to go get him?" Lily asked.

"If he was ok with me grabbing him, he would have just portaled himself in. He needs to figure out what he wants before he comes to see me."

Lily had heard the argument a dozen times before, but she wasn't convinced her brother actually knew what was best for him. She was more a "rip the bandage off so it can heal" kind of person. Was letting Olivander wander and try to figure out what he's doing next actually what's best for him? She doubted it. Sometimes the best things to do were the hardest.

She sighed and headed to her childhood room. She did hope Olivander would hurry up and get there, one way or another. She hadn't seen him in ages, and would enjoy his company. Lily sat there, trying to remember the fun and excitement that once accompanied a visit from her brother, and the joy those visits always brought her mother. She felt like both of those were harder to imagine than ever before.