When I come to, there is light. But unlike the room with the colossus, this light is not weirdly omnipresent with no source, but rather a warm glow from an object in front of me.

An orange orb, around 20 inches in diameter is held up by bright, glowing, transparent tendrils. The curious sight is accompanied by a low humming emanating from the orb.

I get up. I see that my arm is now back. I wonder if I died or just lost consciousness until the next day?

I look around the room. There is nothing aside from the orb. No stairs leading further down, nor those I descended from. To my back is only a wall.

Well, there’s only one thing to interact with, so I step forth and let the humming ring clearer in my ears as I approach the orb. I reach out my hand and touch it.

As I do, ripples for on its surface and a weird sound is made. Like someone played a single string on an otherworldly violin. Then, the center of the ripples starts to shine and quickly brightens till the point where I am blinded by the light.

“Congratulations! You did that mu- huh?” I look at the emerged being as my vision returns. I recognize this shape. It’s the angel that kidnapped me. Here in all of its childlike, nude, genderless glory. My first instinct is to scold it and demand answers, but as I try to, the words won’t leave my mouth. No, I can’t even move my mouth, I can’t do anything!

“Ah, you know me? I see, you’re the one with potential. I had totally written you off when I check on you and found you submerged in metal. Who would continue to struggle for so long?”

I am confused. Potential? It checked up on me? And who wouldn’t struggle? There was nothing else to do, right?

“Wrong! The fate of most immortal beings is to surrender, to no longer care about anything, to seal yourself in some state. I just thought you were helped along, but that was not the case, huh?”

Fate of immortal beings is to surrender? Like Hannah?

“I don’t know who this Hannah is, but probably. Dryads of this world often turn into trees and only rarely do they return for a few years after a couple of millennia, after which all of them, without exception has turned back into trees again.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It seems that the being is reading my thoughts. I will try thinking questions. Why are you here? Who are you? Why did you do this to me?

“Ahahaha, right. I need to motivate you. Let’s see… Every time you get to the bottom of the dungeon, I will answer one question and give you a gift, how about that, now fire away?”

This thing is seriously pissing me off. Was it this annoying before? Nevermind, what should I ask her? What seems most important to know? Right, I saw that Ahorn could maybe kill me, so I have to know if I will continue to live forever, alone when the world ends in one way or another, lest I will have Ahorn kill me, let’s go with that!

“Hmm, good one, shows a willingness to go on for now. But that was a lot, I feel like I will answer more than one… Ah, to hell with it! You won’t die, but the world won’t end.”

What? What do you mean?

“UH-UH” She mimics an error sound “now for a gift… I prepared one for Ahorn, but it won’t suit you… Got any wishes?”

Let me punch you!

“Ahaha, I will take it as leaving it up to myself. Hmmmm. Right, how about this?” She snaps her fingers, and I can feel myself wearing something, but I can’t examine it, as I can’t move at all, not even my eyes.

“Well then, if you’re curious, be sure to find me again, ahaha!”

The light fades. There is no longer any orb or tendrils. I suddenly blink my eyes and I can move again. But there is strangely still light. I turn around, and before I know, I am outside. Right outside the dungeon’s entrance.

I examine what rests upon my shoulders. It is a cape… Is it a magic cape? I try swooshing a bit with it, but nothing happens. Guess I will wear it and find out more about it later…

Dungeons… Should I go chase down more dungeons? Well, I will leave it for later. For now, let’s reunite with the other guys.

“Ah!! A pervert!” A young woman screams and points at me. Oh right, I am wearing the cape, but nothing at all underneath, and while it covers the front of my shoulders, it neatly parts way to show my more private parts. I run away, escaping the crowd of people coming running. Shit, I need new clothes! I need to get to the manor as fast as possible.

I can’t run through the streets like this, so I gather my strength, apply a bit of bestowal and try to jump up on a rooftop. The jump is slightly too low however, but luckily, the mantle reveals its power to me, as I slowly glide down. Huh. I try to jump up and down, testing its power a little.

I eventually figure out I can somewhat control my rate of descent and direction, by grabbing the edges of the mantle and moving them about. This is so fucking neat!

After I land from my last practice bout, I briefly use the heaviest bestowal, that I think I can sustain in my legs and jump up very high. Maybe 100 feet in the air? I am holding the edges of the cape, aiming myself for the manor’s courtyard. As I start to move in a direction, I pick up more and more speed. What will people think if they look up and see me here? Naked man, flying through the sky!