The green wizard held up a hand, gesturing for silence. He stroked his beard for a few moments. With a deep breath, he opened his mouth and spoke slowly in an ancient demonic tongue. The other wizard’s face brightened and he responded in kind.
“Oh finally, I don’t think I’ve spoken so many languages so quickly before.” The blue wizard said. She continued, “Now, identify yourself and explain your presence in this dungeon.”
The green wizard sent a polite nod to the blue wizard. “I am Crataz Aniquam and I am here to investigate the reason for the System quarantine of this dungeon. Identify yourself and explain your presence here.”
The blue wizard lowered her staff and laughed. “I am Ivira Phedyora and I am here to investigate the reason for the System quarantine of this dungeon, especially since this dungeon only recently appeared.”
Crataz the green lowered his rod and frowned. “This dungeon is approximately three years old, according to the local hill lord. Where were you sent from and why did you interfere in this official investigation?”
Ivira the blue shook her head. “I know of no hill lord. This dungeon appeared within the last few tendays. Why did you interfere in my official investigation?”
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Violet hesitated. He should probably go out and talk to the wizards. There was a good chance they were System authorized investigators. They had managed to enter the dungeon through the quarantine, so their magical skill would be high enough to investigate the captured space and anything else needed. However, Violet hadn’t ever left the area around the dungeon core since he had arrived in the dungeon. He had used magic to teleport in supplies for his arts and crafts from out in the worldlets. And since the dungeon doesn’t speak, Violet thought, I haven’t spoken to anyone in all that time either. Violet fidgeted, adjusted his clothes, liked his lips, ran his hands through his hair, screwed his eyes shut, and blinked through the vine wall.
The two wizards looked up at Violet with interest. They had felt the blink spell form, so had not been overly surprised. The blue wizard asked a question, and Violet belatedly remembered he needed to use a translation spell. He had to think for a second before he remembered how to make the spell work. He cleared his through and addressed the two wizards. “Greetings, magical experts. I am the assigned dungeon fairy for the Terse Elements dungeon.” He executed a polite bow while floating in midair. When he straightened back up, the wizards were not looking at him. The two wizards were staring fixedly at the air in front of Violet’s chest. Violet looked down, thinking he might have forgotten to remove a stained apron, but there wasn’t anything there. Wincing, Violet realized the wizards were looking at the translation spell he had cast. Oops. That was sloppy. He thought. He waved his hands in a tight little pattern and obscured the spell. His cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and all he could think to say was, “That spell is proprietary.”
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The blue wizard blinked a few times, seeming to remember that there was a strange fairy to talk to. “Fairy, how old is this dungeon?” She asked.
Violet thought the question was overly direct and lacking in manners, but he answered anyway. He pulled up the default information he had access to as the assigned dungeon fairy. The “age” of a dungeon did not always have a straightforward relationship with the calendars used by people outside, so each dungeon kept a count of every second that passed since their creation. Violet read off the long number.
The green wizard asked the next question. “And how long has the dungeon been under quarantine?”
“Oh, about two thirds of that time.” Violet said. He hadn’t written down the exact second the quarantine started and it didn’t seem important anyway. The green wizard turned a smug look at the blue wizard who frowned deeply.
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Ivira the blue frowned. “Crataz, you said the dungeon was three years old, but the fairy says only about one year. Your story doesn’t match my reports or the report of this fairy just now. What is the reason?”
Crataz the green raised an eyebrow as only a wizard could. “The fairy’s reported number is three years, Ivira.”
The fairy shrugged. “It would be five years for me back home.”
Ivira and Crataz turned and stared at the fairy. They stared for long moments as the fairy grew red in embarrassment. Ivira arrived at the explanation first and pressed her palm to her forehead in disbelief. Crataz reached the same conclusion a moment later.
“How extraordinary!” He said. “What world did you arrive from, Ivira?”
“World 7444E.” Ivira answered. “You?”
“World 2105F.” Crataz grinned and held out his hand to shake. “Pleasure to meet you. I had a roommate from 7444B. Hope they aren’t your wicked overlords or something like that.
Ivira smiled back and shook Crataz’s hand. “We have some trade agreements with them, I believe, but they are mostly irrelevant to us. I’ve haven’t been to the twenty-ones, but I’ve certainly heard a few good things.”
“I’m so glad to hear it.” Crataz said. “And now we must find out why we both ended up in this dungeon. The fairy’s report matches the records I reviewed and we have a reasonably detailed history of the dungeon up until the quarantine, so I think it’s safe to assume the dungeon did originate as an adjunct space to ours.”
“Agreed.” Ivira nodded. “A dungeon portal appeared a short time ago in an unexpected location. Initial examination found the portal was sealed. I was dispatched immediately to investigate. Evidence suggests the dungeon was sealed at or before the time of portal creation. Putting all this together, it’s possible the dungeon has created a connection between two worlds, OR…” She emphasized to cut off Crataz’s interruption. “or, a void space somehow under the authority of this dungeon impacted world 7444E.”
“Yes, exactly!” Crataz said excitedly. “Fairy! Can you confirm if the dungeon acquired or lost any void spaces under abnormal circumstances? Also, will you ask the dungeon to cease these pointless attacks?” A spider tree weasel fell from a nearby vine branch, dead from a tiny lightning strike.
The fairy looked uncomfortable. “Um…”