During the night, a thick layer of snow had covered the streets outside. On my way to work, I discovered that methods used to mitigate said snow had remained quite primitive, as salt had been thrown by the council on and along the sidewalk. The only thing that had changed were the snow-ploughing trucks which had been replaced with a group of very annoyed and visibly cold fire and ice mages.
The following day, the snow layer had become so deep that Manon called me and told me not to bother coming to work. No amount of salt or visibly underpaid mages could counter this beginning of a snowstorm.
“It’s fascinating, how these infrastructures always manage to fail us.” I spoke to myself once I got off the phone with Manon.
I took a seat at the kitchen table, by the open oven, which did a decent job at keeping me warm where the three layers of sweaters I was wearing were failing. It really was fascinating, how despite all the opportunities and magic that this world had, and that my original one didn’t, thermal isolation was not a thing present in old, post-war houses such as mine.
“At least they fixed your statue.” Cain replied.
He was sat on the floor of the living room, back glued to the heater by the window. He would occasionally glance outside, whenever an advert prevented him from playing on my phone. He used those moments to comment on the amount of snow, and the people ‘dumb enough’ to ‘go outside dressed like they were’.
In reality, those people that were outside had been smarter than I, as they had bothered to buy rune-enhanced thermal wear. Having lived in Paris for a good chunk of my life, I had never thought that the temperature would fall below zero; because in the past six years it hadn’t done so even once, even for a day. Hence now I only had myself to blame for my predicament.
“What statue?” I asked Cain, as I scrolled through an online clothes store.
“The one of the fourth Lord, in the states. That was destroyed two days ago.” Cain clarified.
“The statue of Liberty?” I distractedly replied. “You’re an M in coat size, right?”
Cain made a displeased noise in response to my first question, before answering:
“I already have a coat. And I don’t know how your sizes work.”
“What does the label on your sweater say?”
Cain grabbed and twisted his collar to read the label sewn on the back of it. After a short pause, he replied with a ‘don’t tell me you told me so’ tone:
“M. Can you at least not buy something terne and grey or black? Since you’re not asking for my input, I’ll have you know that I don’t want to look like I’m coming home from a funeral.”
“You can either be warm or be dressed pretty. Not both.” I replied. “But I can get you a yellow scarf with giraffes on it if you want.”
“Okay. Get two, so I can give one to your boyfriend and we can have matching ones.”
I chuckled. I wasn’t sure what was funnier; the idea of Etienne wearing a bright yellow scarf with cartoon giraffes on it, or the fact that it’d be matching that of a kid he was absolutely unrelated to.
“Hey!” I exclaimed in my usual fake-outraged tone, “Why don’t you want to wear matching scarfs with me?”
“Fine, you can get one yourself as well.” Cain replied. I wasn’t quite sure if he was matching my tone, or actually upset by my suggestion.
Just as I was finishing placing the order for three giraffe scarfs (I was going off the logic that it was better to have an extra one and not wear it, than have one too few) and some winter clothes, Cain lifted his eyes away from my phone, and called out to me:
“Your boyfriend says he doesn’t have work either. He asks if you want to go out with him.”
“I am very certain that Etienne didn’t use any of those words.” I said, before paying for the clothes order, pushing my chair aside, closing the oven (cold or no cold, it was a fire hazard when left unsupervised), and heading to the living room. “Show me.” I said as I sat next to Cain, against the heater.
Etienne had in fact not used any of those words. He’d asked me if I wanted to meet up and talk since this was the first time in a while the two of us had had a day off. I pressed my lips together, acknowledging that we couldn’t, or rather shouldn’t, out this off for any longer.
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“Ask him if he wants to take me to a dungeon.” Cain asked as he leaned onto my shoulder, watching what I was writing.
I rolled my eyes. If both Etienne and I had been given time off work, there was a good chance dungeon employees were given the same luxury. But, a few text messages and one phone call (to see if they were open) later, Cain and I found ourselves walking through a blizzard to the nearest teleportation circle.
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“Good morning.” Etienne greeted me.
He was visibly shivering in his patched-up burgundy leather jacket, to the point where I wondered why he’d agreed to this in the first place.
“Hey.” I greeted him back, before kissing him on the cheek. “So, you’ve done one of these before?”
“Plenty. My sister would spend all her winter holidays in dungeons. They used to do discounts for school students, so it was affordable as well. Now it has become a bit of a scam, if I say so myself.” Etienne replied, with a surprisingly steady voice for a man about to freeze to the spot. Then, he looked in Cain’s direction, who’d run off towards the advert panel by the kiosk that served as the entrance to the dungeon, and his expression softened. “I guess it’s worth it for kids though.”
I hesitated, once again, to let Etienne go in there with Cain, as I still had no desire to go into a cold, moist, and monster-infested dungeon. But, the dungeon was nothing more than an excuse to get to see Etienne after all.
“I’ll get the tickets. And afterwards, you’ll have to explain to us how this all works.” I told him, before heading off, not leaving him the time to argue.
The kiosk was nested in between two houses, only a few meters away from what the map app on my phone delimited as a red ‘no access’ blob. The concrete wall surrounding the wild land where this dungeon was located, was clearly visible amongst the houses. I imagined the rent here to be even cheaper than in my area, as between the noise, and potential risks, local residents were unlikely to have a lot of quiet times.
“Hi, what can I do for you?” The cashier asked as I approached. They were wearing a large, intricate, snow-flake-shaped steel pendant, which was no doubt the reason why they were not wearing a coat.
“Hi. Two adults and a kid please.” I replied. “Do you also have a guide or a map or something?”
“We have maps, and any equipment you wish to rent is included in the price. As long as we get it back in one piece. And between you and me,” the cashier leaned towards me putting a hand by their mouth, so Cain, who was not that far from us, wouldn’t hear, “there are lights installed in every room for cleaning, so if the kid struggles to solve puzzles, or find stuff, pretend that you’re using a skill, and turn them on. The switches are painted over and have two black dots on them.”
“Thank you for the tip. But, I was more concerned about, umm, monsters and such.” I said, in a tone that involuntarily came off as a question.
"Oh, we only have low-level stuff, and that is, if it even spawns. Green slimes, and maybe a baby goblin if you’re lucky. Plenty of fun for the kid, no real danger for you, parents.”
As they said that, the cashier made a head movement, encompassing me and Etienne. I didn’t bother correcting them. Instead, I paid with my father’s bank card, and waited for three colourful paper tickets to get printed out.
I handed one to Cain, and another to Etienne who had resolved to step from foot to foot to try and stay warm. Then, the three of us headed through the wooden door at the side of the kiosk through a long concrete hallway, into a large concrete-covered room. There, the temperature had risen to a much more bearable one, indicating that we had passed the wall surrounding this Wild Land. It wasn’t, by any means, but it was warm enough for Cain and me to unzip our respective jackets, and for Etienne to finally stop shivering.
One of the walls of the room was lined with benches and storage lockers, while the other had various weapons hanging on it. The wall by the corridor we had come from, held a desk, and a minifridge stocked with snacks. An employee got up from behind the desk, with a rather surprised expression.
“By this weather, you must really be eager to experience our dungeon.” They said.
“There are fewer people on days like these.” Etienne replied.
“I’ll do you one better, you’ll have it all to yourselves.” The employee smiled. “A rare occurrence this close to the solstice. So, have you done this before.”
Etienne nodded, and Cain shook his head. I didn’t say anything, as I wasn’t sure if having read about a group of overpowered people exploring a dungeon was the same as actually going to one.
“So little guy,” the employee said, as they squatted down, “What kind of weapon would you like to have? Would you like a big sword, like a hero? Or a spear, like a knight?”
Despite visibly doing his best, Cain failed in concealing his expression. The employee got up, perplexed, at the annoyed and disdainful expression of the kid. The latter use this opportunity to run past them, and grab a shortsword from the wall, before running up to the ornate wooden door that occupied the centre of the fourth wall, and asking:
“Is this through here?”
The employee, still stunned, nodded in response.
Cain promptly vanished behind the door.
“Don’t mind him, he’s always like this.” I replied before following him.
“Wait, aren’t you also going to grab a weapon?” The employee asked.
I was about to say ‘no’, but Etienne picked up a crossbow and a gun, before asking:
“Which one?”
I pointed toward the gun. He grabbed two magazines and tossed the lot to me. I don’t know by what miracle I caught all of it, but I did. Shoving the spare magazines in my pocket, with the full knowledge that I looked like a complete idiot, I waited for more instructions.
“Make sure you always-”
“Keep our eyes on the kid in case a monster appears, check for string, pressure platforms, and runes for any traps that might have not been deactivated; stay within the marked corridors, and not shoot or hit any of the walls because they might collapse.” Etienne cut the employee short. “I know the drill.” He added with a smile.
“Well, in that case, have fun, take your time, and you’re free to keep anything you find that isn’t furniture or part of the décor. Believe me, you’ll know the difference.” The employee said, before heading back to their desk.
“Let’s go.” Etienne said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and leading me to the dungeon door.
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