The Dungeon Tower was the strangest building on campus. When someone mentions the word ‘Tower,’ the conjured images are those of buildings shooting into the heavens. When the word ‘Dungeon’ is used, it’s a descent into the pits of some torture labyrinth. Put them together and you get – confusion. Legend had it that the building’s name was coin by some quirky University President, who, as he was descending in the elevator said, ‘This is like going up in a Tower, but just downwards, into a Dungeon.’ And because everyone wanted to please the boss, Dungeon Tower stuck.

When Professor Zultner had told us to visit her in room 102 in the Dungeon Tower, I thought it rather strange. The tower was, principally the domain of the Science department. What was a Humanities Professor doing lurking around in the deepest level of the dungeon, where particle physics experiments were conducted? I couldn’t imagine anyone ever saying no to her, especially the emotionally challenged science profs.

Kam was leading the way through one of the many tunnels that criss-crossed the entire campus. I never asked why they had been built in the first place, but I suspected that maybe it had something to do with the cold war. Once upon a time people believed everything would be all right, if during a nuclear attack, they could stay underground. They were a bit dillusional, because a nuclear holocaust would make life above ground impossible. We were all silent and in a contemplative mood.

The idea of meeting Professor Zultner was rather daunting, especially in a dungeon. “So, Kam, how long have you been working for Dorothy?”

Kam slowed his pace until he was ambling along beside us. He gave us both a big, reassuring smile. “Some time. You don’t have to be worried, you know. The High Priestess is rather nice.”

“The High Priestess?”

“It was her title,” said Ingrid, “In the old days.”

“I suppose that depends on how old she is. She doesn't look over sixty." Niether of them answered. "How old is she, really?” I hedged the question trying not to sound too interested.

Kam shrugged. “As old as she needs to be.”

As old as she needs to be? What was that supposed to mean? A person is usually a certain age, or they’re dead, there are no if, but, or wherefores about it. I squeezed Ingrid’s hand and she squeezed back. That was a good sign. Whatever we were going to face, we were going to face it together.

“You mind me asking?” I began. “What was the bit with the green cloth tying our hands up back there?”

“It bonds us together. Alone, we are weak, but together we may have been able to stand before it.”

The remembered image of the glowing red eyes and the black figure rising up in front of me made my breath quickenl. “Speaking of ‘It’ what was ‘It?’

“The Darkness before Time,” said Kam casually as though his experience had made him far to familiar. “And even tied together I’m not too sure you would have lasted very long. You see, that’s what has the High Priestess steaming; somebody or something has accelerated the process. This is happening all too quickly.”

Almost on queue the Mayor Tom app went off. I fumbled with the phone and shut it down quickly. I apologized to whoever it was, but they would have to make it home on their own tonight. That being said, I wasn't exactly sure we were going to make it home. There was a dark feeling, creeping along behind us, almost as if it was following us. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t really see my roll in this whole thing.”

Kam and Ingrid shared a knowing look, and I immediately felt isolated.

“What, you two know what’s going on, and you're keeping it to yourselves. That’s not really fair,” I said plaintively.

“It’s not our place to tell you,” said Kam.

“You didn’t really take the security job because you could get work as a football player did you? You took it because...”

“Because we are who we are. The High Priestess will explain.”

That was the part I was actually dreading. We went into the entrance foyer of a unassuming two story, red brick building. In front of us stood an elevator, stainless steel doors looking rather daunting. There were no buttons on the front panel, only a flat screen.  At the bottom of it was a semi-circular piece of plastic, much like a cup that had been cut in half.

“Just place your chin on it,” instructed Kam, “and don’t blink.”

Something inside me shut down. I don’t know what it was, whether it was the thought of Professor Zultner waiting in some dungeon far below, or a girl friend that was acting really odd, or a friend who turns out to be some bizarre protector of the universe, but I refused to put my chin in the cup.

“I’m sorry, but I need some answers, and I need them now before I go any further.”

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

Kam pursed his lips and Ingrid looked frightened. After a moment of consideration, he gave his head a stiff nod. “Suppose you need to know something. It was the same when I was recruited.”

“You were recruited?”

“Sure, it’s how we all end up doing what we do.”

“Well, that’s the thing. You’re going to have to tell me what it is we are supposed to be doing, if you want me to go any further.”

Kam with a rather perplexed look on his face as he ran a hand down the back of his head to massage his neck which he cracked. He had done this when playing, just before leveling an opponent. “Well, that’s supposed to be the High Priestesses job...”

“Hey, I understand. Listen I do. Dorothy scares the tar out of me as well.” I was hoping that doubting his courage would get him to reveal more information, but I misread Kam.

“We’re in the same boat there. I don’t know if I can describe it aptly. Ingrid, I think this is your forte.”

Ingrid nodded refusing to meet my eyes. She looked more than a bit guilty. “Every so often there is this...this darkness that hides in the earth, in the dark places of the world. Every so often this black miasma comes forth to kill, to destroy. It is madness. You understand?”

“When it’s in hibernation, there aren’t many of us, only The High Priestess,” continued in Kam. “When it comes out of hibernation, then, Guardians, like me, are the first ones to be activated. Until then we are just living normal, desperate lives. Then come the Pen and the Sword.”

“Pen and the Sword? What do you mean?” It sounded frightfully literary.

“You two,” said Kam. Something moved in the darkness outside the front door we had entered. It was like the flitting shadow of something. “TU Kai!” exclaimed Kam who suddenly tackled us and threw us both to the floor.

Just then the glass on the front entrance shattered and shards shot everywhere. In howled a cold wind. It was so so focused that it felt like it was targeting us. Kam hauled us to our feet. His face was dark and intense and suddenly I understood why people hated playing against him.

“You’re going to stick your chin in that,” he motioned to the key device, “now!’

I was still staring at the door, something dark was hovering just outside, apparently, it was trying to figure out how to get in. Just about to thrust my chin into the cup, the direction button on the panel  beside it flashed red. Something was coming up. Kam pulled me back and stepped in front of both Ingrid and myself, protecting us from whatever was coming.

The stainless steel doors open and out staggered Dorothy Zultner. Her robes were in tatters, and smoke fumed from her hair. Her face was covered in soot and her eyes had a wild desperate gleam to them. It was as though she had just run some type of fire gauntlet and the mob that was trying to kill her was just behind. The bride of Frankenstien.

She coughed and reached out with a claw like hand and grabbed my cape. “We’ve been compromised. We’ve got to get to the safe house.” and then she nearly collapsed in a fit of coughing.

“They’re out front,” said Kam.

“To the roof,” snapped Zultner who stumbled away from the lift, through a door and into a stair well.

Being only a two story building, it didn’t take us long to reach the roof. Kam led the way up to a scaffolding that had been set up on the outside of the building. In front of us was a big yellow fabric chute that had been installed for the workers to deposit debris in the bin below. Without hesitation Kam jumped, a shoosh followed and then a dull thump, a moment of silence, then, “It’s all right. Jump.”

Zultner was still coughing as she placed her hand on Ingrid’s back and guided her into the chute. “You’re turn,” she grated, her voice sounding extremely sore. I hesitated. Part of me was desperate to get away from what was hunting us, but another part wanted to make sure everyone was safe. The door we came through was starting to rattle. Whatever was on the other side was just about to break through. We were both looking at the door. “This is no time for heroics.” With surprising strength, Zultner stepped into the chute, grabbed my cape and dragged me down after her.

Kam was wrong about the landing. It wasn’t all right, the debris of broken wood and drywall didn’t make for a nice, cushy landing. It was rather painful. Then Kam was dragging us out of the bin and we were running. The Professor had regained her strength and was leading the way. With her keys out, she pressed the button and the lights of a small car, in an almost abandoned parking lot, flashed to life. Kam stuffed us in the back and then squeezed his sizable bulk into the passenger side. Professor Zultner turned the car on and with wheels squealing, she burned out of the parking lot.

It wasn’t until we were well away from campus and the normal buzz of traffic surrounded us in its dashing, metallic intensity that I felt the tension in the car relax slightly.

“What was that?” I asked.

“You don’t want to know,” said Kam who was constantly scanning as though he expected to be followed.

“No,” drawled Zultner. The aristocrat in her voice had returned. She glanced up into the rear view mirror as she passed several cars and then had to slow down for a set of red lights. “Under normal circumstances, we would have had time to initiate you." The traffic started to move again and we rolled on..

“I think we’ve lost it,” said Kam, relief showing on his face. “The lights of the traffic and the buildings will have slowed it, but it’s still out there, hunting us.”

“Why is it hunting us?” I thought it was an appropriate question.

“If it can kill us, before we are bonded,” said Ingrid as though she was remembering something exceedingly horrible, “there will be nothing to stop it. Stopping this city from sinking into an apocalypse of death and destruction,” said Ingrid.

“You’ve seen this before, haven’t you?”

“Back home, when Chechesque was in power, hundreds, thousands of people died,” her voice was small but the covert glances from Zultner and Kam made her simple statement grave.

My head was spinning. Chechesque? The Romanian dictator? “That was in the sixties.” Then I realized, suddenly with a startling clarity. “Ingrid, how old are you?”

Zultner was pulling up to the front of a very large building that seemed to be made entirely of glass. “It is not polite to ask a lady her age,” she admonished me.

Kam twisted about and flashed me with a big Polynesian smile. “I know you’re going to find this hard to accept, but Kam is short for Kamehameha.”

“The Hawaiian King Kamehameha? He lived over two hundred years ago.”

“I’m impressed,” he said. Most people don't know anything about my home.

“So am I, about how old you are,” I said weakly, then a dark question leered up in front of me and I had to ask it. "If you're all so old, what happened to the last person that did my job, whatever that is?"

Ingrid was staring off into the distance. "He died."