I reached the doors of the other building attached to the dungeon just as they finished opening. A quick glance showed me that the four people that the gorilla… no, Core Guardian, had named off were following behind. Apparently, a consensus had been reached. We were progressing! Yay!

Looking into the building, lights started to flicker on illuminating the inside. It looked… Well, it looked like a small version of a mall. There were store areas with front counters, a couple of those little kiosk style cart vendors. There was even a fountain and a place for just sitting down. Chairs and tables and everything. I wondered if there was a food court here…

What was missing was people. No one at the counters or the kiosks. As the lighting grew, a few people did come out from an area in the back. They looked to be wearing the same armor as the dungeon owner had. All of them tall, with an androgynous look to them. Though, armor, it’s there for protection first and looks second.

One of them continued walking towards us, while the other two split off and took up positions at what could have been guard stations. Just standing there, at attention. In the quiet of the space, the only sound being that of the one that was approaching us, it was kind of creepy. Go dungeon, with the atmosphere.

“Sage Luna, welcome. The merchant you need to speak with will be ready momentarily,” they said, the voice sounding a little familiar.

The Core Guardian had said this would be ‘the captain’, so I figured it best to follow along, if this was who I was thinking it was. “Captain, good to see you again,” I said as I looked around at the place. “This seems awfully familiar to me.”

The elf took off their helmet, holding it in the crook of their elbow, a smile on their lips. “Well, you are the catalyst of all this change. You’re going to be famous. Or infamous, depending on who you talk to in the decades to come.”

Behind me, one of the women spoke. “Sage?” she asked. I looked behind me, and it was the darker haired, older woman speaking, the one the Guardian had called Lorekeeper. “How do you know this… elf?”

That didn’t sound good. Turning to look at all of them with a frown, I could only ask the question. This was like, fantasy 101 here, wasn’t it? “Why say it like that? You’ve never seen an elf before?”

It was the man, the one the Guardian had called a Baron, that answered. “Elves have not been seen in Ytregassa for almost ten thousand years.” His voice had just as much confusion as mine. “How could someone calling themselves a Sage not know this?”

Oh. Well, crap. I looked at ‘the captain’ and then back at the small group. The younger woman was looking around at the sights, standing a little away from the older crowd. That way most young people did when surrounded by their elders, hoping that they didn’t get asked or told to do something.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The red head, the Guild Master, stepped forward, looking at the elf. “Are you a living being, or a dungeon creature?”

Straight to the point, this one, and right to business. The elf waggled their hand back and forth. “A little of both, perhaps. However, not quite what you all are here for, I’m afraid. You four should be seeing a System Screen appearing about now,” they began to explain. “The dungeon has facilitated the recalibration of your status.”

Sure enough, they all had stopped and were staring in mid air. I wondered if that was what I looked like? Slightly glazed, far off look. Eyes moving back and forth as they were reading whatever they were looking at.

The Lorekeeper looked excited. She’d pulled out an expensive looking tome and was writing down notes or something inside of it. “This is incredible! We’ve never had such distinct information on… Wizard subclass? Are you serious?” Her voice had risen a bit there.

“Rogue subclass here,” the Guild Master muttered, still reading through her information.

I looked at the Baron, who’s stance had changed. He stood, arms crossed as he read, head tilted a bit to the side. He at least sounded amused. “Bastion is apparently a Fighter subclass. Who knew?”

Turning my attention to the younger woman, the little sun, I waited. She had a frown on her face, brows furrowed in confusion. “Paladin subclass? Sunsworn is a Paladin?”

A glance at the elf, seeing they were enjoying themselves, I shook my head. “All right, I have something I need to take care of here. Why don’t all of you head over to those tables and sit down while you familiarize yourselves with this new stuff?”

The Guild Master blinked, looking at me and then nodding. She took the Lorekeeper by the arm and guided her over, the other woman hadn’t stopped writing or looked at anyone else. She was mumbling to herself about how this was going to change everything. I wasn’t sure what everything was, but if this was new to them, yeah. I might be in trouble.

The Baron had waved a hand to get the ‘little sun’s’ attention, and stopped in front of me, offering a hand. “I am Baron Acantid, or Lord Berav. This outpost is within my domain in the Empire.”

“Lord Berav, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand and giving a small smile. “I’m Ian Luna, Sage… of Nalura? I’m not too sure how Blessing’s work…”

That got the younger woman’s attention. “You are Blessed of the Moon!” she exclaimed. “You are the one we were sent for?”

Well, that wasn’t something I was expecting to hear. It also only made the growing unease in my stomach worse. “Uh… Maybe? I wasn’t aware anyone had been sent for me?”

I shot a look over to the other women, who’d sat down and were discussing something. They apparently hadn’t heard what had been said. “Is that something important?”

The elf stepped in at that moment. “Sage Luna, while we don’t have knowledge of this Baron or Empire specifically, may we suggest that you do offer a little trust? Nalura’s sister would not have sent anyone that meant you harm.”

Nalura’s sister? Moon goddess, sun goddess? Okay, that was something I could work with…

“Yeah, sure… You two go get settled, I’ll take care of this little thing I need to? Then we can talk about a few things and maybe all of us get some answers?”