After several minutes of letting his enhanced healing, courtesy of his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class perk do its work, Leif got to his feet. He stumbled over to his arm and picked it up. All around the three dozen or so statues seemed to stare at him, judging.

I need something to drain. Leif thought.

He absorbed some of the water at his feet but it did little good. He staggered over to one of the statues, a well muscled figure with a javelin over one shoulder.

Tentatively he reached out and touched its upper thigh. Nothing, just as his senses had been telling him. The cold metallic figure was absent of any lifeforce.

Leif looked around for an exit to the chamber, on opposite sides of the large round room were the outlines of circular arches glowing with the same blue light as the statues. He started walking towards one when a light splash came from behind.

Leif spun, he didn’t sense lifeforce or intent but… A transparent phantom, identical to the javelin holding statue in shape and pose stood proudly in the rubble strewn water. Then it moved, slowly shifting its footing and bringing up its weapon. It nodded slightly in Leif’s direction and entered a combat stance.

The spriggan stood there, unsure what was going on. Was it because I touched the statue? Is it going to fight me? The phantom made no moves to attack, it just remained in the combat stance. Leif stepped up out of the pool and instantly the phantom dissolved into motes of blue light.

Leif relaxed slightly. He didn’t seem to be in immediate danger. He circled the room twice, looking for an exit. The arches seemed to be the best bet, but there was no way out. Though he did notice something. One of the arches seemed damaged in some way, the runic symbols flickering fitfully at infrequent intervals.

Just as Leif was heading back to the pool of water a three by three metre hole slid open in an innocuous part of the smooth wall . Light, footsteps and two voices came from the opening. Leif tensed, what was that? More goblins?

But it wasn’t goblins. Two men walked into the chamber through the newly created side entrance. One was tall and broad with pale skin and dark braided hair. The second was a shorter lean man with sandy hair and glasses. Both men, human men, froze as they saw him.

Leif froze in turn.

This was the first time in Leif’s tree life he had seen people. And they had just walked in out of the blue. And though he was caught thoroughly flatfoot he could identify the trembling echoes from his soul for what they were. Recognition. This, this was what he had once been. He could feel it deep within his core.

A sudden barrage of memories and impressions flickered through his mind faster than he could process them. A series of emotions surged in his chest, then fear replaced them all.

They won’t be able to tell what I am.

Smiling half forgotten faces.

And even if they knew, how would they react?

Locations so familiar yet distant.

His mind whirled as fast as it could go. What should I do? He panicked.

The taller man, clad in a smart grey and blue uniform with tanned hide armour stepped in front of the other, an axe materialised out of nowhere with a faint warping of the surrounding air and fell into his outstretched hand. Leif felt a sensation of being measured brush against his spirit but ignored it.

“Oh hey!” Said the shorter man, his voice more curious than afraid. “Is this a boss-fight room?” A purple glowing sphere hovered over his shoulder. The impression the man’s presence gave off was like a carefully arranged stack of scrolls.

His wide brim glasses and lack of any obvious armour distinguishing him from his peer, though he wore the same grey blue uniform.

The taller of the two grunted and eyed Leif warily. Frost started to build up on his axehead, frigid air flowing off the blade and dispersing into the chamber. “Careful. It’s at least level thirty. I’ve never seen anything like it.” In contrast to the other, this human felt like a solid wall of ice, like a blizzard suddenly passing through the land during turbulence.

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Level thirty? That's the second time someone’s made that mistake. But why? Leif backed away from the pair, raising his one arm in a placating gesture.

“I don’t think this is a boss-fight room Sieg.” The sandy haired man said. “What kind of boss is half dead and missing an arm?”

“The kind trying to lower your guard.” The tall man, Sieg replied, axe still held ready, stance still hostile. Both men shared a meaningful look, the shorter man shrugged.

“Hey! I’m Marcus. Are you hostile?” The other man called to Leif. “Actually, can you understand me? Shake your head for no and nod for yes.” He demonstrated both motions as he spoke. Leif understood the concept, just looking at these two was making his mind run wild, images of a forgotten life flashing through his mind's eye.

Oh, I should respond. He realised. Having stood still for several seconds. He nodded.

“Want to kill us?”

Shake.

“Friendly?”

Nod.

“Orc lord send you?”

Tilt of the head.

“Big guy. Super strong. Green, tusks, talks too much.”

Rapid nodding.

Marcus hopped forward past his companion, eyes gleaming behind his glasses. Sieg held up an arm and the two shared another look. “Careful.” The big man said simply.

“We're not in first year anymore Sieg. I can protect myself thank you!” Marcus looked at the debris littering the pool and then up at the ceiling. “You fall down from there? We heard something crash from the next room over.”

Leif nodded again, lowering his arm and standing up straighter. The big man didn’t seem hostile, if the hazy feeling Leif was getting from the two from [Court Empath] was accurate he was just protective. Marcus was easier to read, he had gone from alarm to curiosity almost instantly.

The shorter man darted around the room, quickly inspecting the statues, then both archways. The floating purple orb following lazily behind. Finally he pulled out a strange metallic device with a blue glow. He waved it up and down as he moved near the walls.

Then, with no mechanism or giveaway Leif could notice he tapped a point, then the wall slid apart just like the other entrance.

Marcus waited for Sieg to catch up, then let the bigger man go in first. Leif stood in the pool of water, unsure what to do. The two men entered the passageway and vanished from sight. A minute later Marcus’s orb popped back into the chamber, followed shortly by its owner.

“Passageway is collapsed. Not unexpected but a bit of a shame, using the maintenance tunnels to get this far was pretty lucky.”

“We have no idea how difficult this room's challenge will be.” Sieg huffed, entering after Marcus. “Ask your new friend if it knows anything.”

Marcus beamed and turned to Leif. “We skipped the early floors when we found this maintenance key. The upper levels are crawling with goblins and we didn’t want to get stabbed. Their boss did throw us down here but you can never be too knife safe around goblins. Anyway we slipped away and closed the entrances behind us.” He looked up and grimaced. “Though maybe they’ll come down through the hole…”

Leif was sweating internally. Not being able to talk was frustrating. He understood the words and instinctively knew if his body was capable he would have no problems. He tried making basic sounds but they just came out as unintelligible hisses.

Sieg frowned in his direction but the axe slung over the muscular man's shoulders didn’t move.

“You know how this chamber works?” Marcus asked him. Leif shrugged and hissed again. He sighed then tried something different.

[Aura of Nobility] could be helpful here. He mentally and physically gestured at the javelin statue. Both men felt his aura and looked at the statue. It worked! Leif thought excitedly.

He walked over and pressed his one hand against the glowing statue. A moment later the phantom appeared and got into position.

“Huh.” Marcus said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. “What happens if you touch the projection? Sieg? Do the honours?”

Sieg glowered and turned to Leif. “Monster. Touch the projection.”

Leif didn’t have much of a choice. He reached out and poked the phantom in the arm. Both it and the statue flashed red, then the phantom flickered out of existence briefly before appearing nearby in the same combat stance.

Marcus clapped his hands together. “Training room! There’s something similar in the academy right, Sieg?”

Sieg grunted. “In the Iron training halls from what I’ve heard, never seen, let alone used them.”

“You need to copy the projections stance. Look, there's an axe one over there. One of us needs to complete whatever this is to unlock that,” he pointed, “archway. No other way forward. And the further down we go the further away we get from the green horde”

Both spriggan and dark haired human looked to the archway, then back to each other. Leif nodded hesitantly.

“We must work together!” Marcus cheered, fist raised. “For united we will not be oppressed! The orc squatting in the city above us may have far, far too many goblins… But we have the power of justice, friendship, and no other choice!”

“Wonderful.” Sieg muttered. “Because the last monster was so kind to us.”

“Hey, he threw us down here instead of murdering us. It could have been worse.”

Leif decided he had no idea what was going on, and would just go with the flow.