I blew air out of my mouth as I considered Aiko Himekawa’s question. It would be inaccurate to say I knew what was going on, but I probably had a better understanding than the other two. Based on their nationality, the other two most likely had very little knowledge of the New Testament. Christianity was barely present in Japan, and most Muslims didn’t read the Bible. To be fair, I hadn’t read the Quran, either.

“I have some theories,” I said. I knew that if I were to start explaining my theories on Revelation and the Coalition of Light, we would be there for ten minutes, so I deflected. “You two were attacked by a Star Child, right? It’s a small octopus thing that took a part of your body? Like this.” I gestured to my eye. “Epsilon, change colors for a second.”

A slight squirming around my eye socket and the flinching of the other two human Lords told me that Epsilon did as I commanded. The Syrian pointed at my face in recognition, and he lifted his shirt up to his stomach. Embedded in his stomach, in the shape of a four-pointed star, was a large piece of skin that was much paler than the skin surrounding it. Interesting, the Star Child must have latched onto his stomach after realizing it couldn’t take over his brain.

Aiko held out her left hand, and I noticed that it was strangely immobile. “The ‘Star Child,’ as you call it, took my hand.”

“That’s too bad,” I said a moment before switching to the language of the Elders. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Both of them looked at me in confusion. As I expected, neither of them understood what I was saying. They never interfaced with their Star Children, so they never had the chance to learn the language.

“What did you just say?” Aiko asked.

“Nothing, Aiko.” I paused for a moment, remembering vaguely that the Japanese put significance on the way you addressed other people. “Is it okay if I call you that?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, I’ve met plenty of Americans.”

“You could tell I was American from my accent?”

“That, and you said you were American a minute ago.”

“Right,” I said, pausing for a moment. “Where are you from, Aiko? I assume you’re from Japan, but I want to know the precise location.”

“I was in Asahikawa, but I ran to Fukagawa when I learned that a [Greater Dungeon] would appear there.”

Honestly, I had absolutely no idea where those towns were. I knew where Tokyo was, but I had never in my life heard of Asahikawa or Fukagawa.

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“I’m sorry, but I don’t know where that is.”

“Excuse me, they’re both near the center of Hokkaido.”

Oh no. I thought my knowledge of Japanese geography was pretty good for an American, but I couldn’t remember exactly where Hokkaido was. I knew it was one of the islands, but I didn’t remember which one. It was either the big one to the north or the smaller one to the south. I would have subtly looked it up on my phone, but the Internet went down the day before.

“Hokkaido, that’s the… northern island, right?”

“Correct,” Aiko responded, not fully comprehending the significance of my Herculean feat of geography. “Asahikawa and Fukagawa are a bit to the northwest of Hokkaido. Why do you ask?”

“That will take a while to explain, and I suspect we’ll be interrupted soon,” I said, looking around at the scene. All of the Star Children had taken their spots on their thrones, yet only half of the seats were filled. I got the strange sense that they were waiting for something to happen. “First, can you send a [Friend Request] to ‘Vinzadir’ so that we can talk again later?”

It took a few minutes, but Aiko was able to change her keyboard layout to English script and send me a [Friend Request].

[NEW FRIEND REQUEST: 愛子ちゃん]

I accepted the [Friend Request] before turning to the Syrian. Even with the language barrier, I had to figure out his name.

“My name is Vincent,” I said, pointing to myself. “You?”

The Syrian seemed to be confused by my statement, so I continued. “Vincent.”

He made a sound of recognition before pointing to himself and saying, “Salim.”

I gave him the thumbs up as I realized that must have been his name. The Syrian man with the scar in the shape of a four-pointed star was named Salim (pronounced sa-LEEM).

“Now that introductions are dealt with,” I said to Aiko. “I’ll try to explain what’s going on. When the three of us were attacked, each of us became the [Lord of a Greater Dungeon]. Meaning…”

My voice caught in my throat as I saw one of the humanoids stand from its throne. Unlike the others, this entity moved with the purpose and cognizance of a normal human. The humanoid that just got to its feet rose from the throne farthest to the right from where I was standing.

The humanoid wore a deep hood, so I couldn’t make out its facial features. As soon as the humanoid got to its feet, an echoing metallic voice emanated from beneath the hood.

“Well explained, Fifth.”

Listening to the hooded man was a strange experience. When he spoke, two voices could be heard simultaneously. One voice spoke in English, and the other spoke in Arabic.

“I am the [Lord of the Twenty-fourth Greater Dungeon]; some call me Melkior.”

The robed man stepped forward, and he slowly pulled back his black hood. Under the hood, Melkior wore the same style of helmet that I recognized from my dream. He removed the full helm, and long blond hair tumbled out and fell down past his shoulders.

The sclera of Melkior’s eyes were pure black, and his irises were a deep red. Most notably, his ears were pointed like an elf from the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien.

“To the people of Earth, however, I am known by a different name. The religions of your planet refer to me as the Great Adversary, Satan.”