12.

When we started walking again, I made up the rear of our company with May, Kate and Hero. As we did, I found myself thinking. For one, about the spatial ring. It was truly a work of art. After feeding it a drop of my blood with the help of one of my daggers and a cut on my little finger, a connection sparked between me and the ring. If I focused my mind on it, I could envision the space in the ring in my head. The pocket dimension in the ring was double the size of a standing closet, which represented itself as a room of bare stone. I experimented by trying to place my pouch inside. There was a whoosh when I held my pouch to the gem and a distortion of light, then my pouch was gone. Peeking inside the ring told me it was resting on the floor inside. It worked! That made me want to test what else I could put in there, but besides my daggers (which could also be stored inside) I didn’t have much to test on. I couldn’t store my water spears in there, but my waterskin could go in, cursed water and all.

While the experimenting was fun and exciting, my thoughts soon turned to more important matters: to Gwgon. Had he truly said my mother’s name, or had it been a play of my own mind? My original assumption was that the humanoid creatures we found here were Shadow Mimics. It also wasn’t a crazy idea that the sect reused its assets and tests. So, Gwgon being a mimic from an older generation of hunters was possible. However, how likely was that? Then there were his eyes—

Hero nudged me. I looked over, and he jabbed his chin to the front. The road we were following poured into a compound. One filled with what looked like abandoned buildings. Their walls were grey and white, spotted with black like the hide of a zebra, and the inside of some of the floors of the buildings were viewable from the outside—the rubble and debris which were part of their whole once were stored in a heap on the ground near their foundations instead.

You have now entered Dead Hope, capital of the lost.

What an ominous name.

‘Our host certainly has…naming sense,’ Hero said, staring around him at the decrepit scenery.

We cautiously strode further in, keeping our ears peeled as we passed the first set of lost buildings.

‘There’s skeletons inside some of them,’ I remarked. They were posed inside rotting chairs, reading a book, whose pages had long since fallen out, and clutching a handle of what I assumed was a cup in the past. Some were even standing in front of the kitchen counter, in the middle of cutting up some vegetables for an evening meal. Yet all of them were stuck in animation. Not a bone moved.

The others cringed away from the creepy spectacle, and we subconsciously huddled closer together.

‘What is this place?’ May whispered.

‘…my guess is a memorial,’ Dale said.

‘Whatever it is,’ Kate said, ‘let’s hope these things stay inanimate.’

My lips pursed. I hadn’t even thought of that. There were at least a hundred of them, too. Even if they were the weakest of E ranks, they would still be a great nuisance to deal with. Could we even deal with them, now that Kate was walking with a limp, and Hero had to continuously drag May out of the way of objects she failed to spot in time?

‘Let’s hope so,’ I said.

We continued stalking ahead. The density of the buildings grew less, and we reached a square. It was empty except for a single lectern in the centre, on which a giant book was already flipped open on a page. The stand was big enough that I would need to stand on my tiptoes to read what was written in the book.

‘Not much in the way of entertainment,’ Twin A said. I’d noticed a smudge on his robe that the other twin didn’t have, so I consciously named him Twin A.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

‘I’m guessing the test will start as soon as we read what’s on the page,’ Twin B offered.

‘You’re right!’

I jumped. That hadn’t sound like any voice I knew. My head whipped towards the source. A figure had appeared above the dias…‘What the hell is that supposed to be?’ I said. Because the “figure” floating above the book was…a teddy bear? It was in the form of a lion, with a dark red mane that sprouted around its head like the leaves of a flower.

‘How rude!’ It said, indignant. ‘I’m the master of this place, The Great White Rabbit!’

All of us were silent for a moment. Which one of us was going to ask?

Twin B did. ‘But you’re not a rabbit?’

‘Or white,’ Twin A added. The lion’s skin was a dark shade of orange.

The reaction to those statements was a bunch of steam leaving the “Great White Rabbit” its ears, and a scowl big enough for its namesake. ‘I’m the Great White Rabbit,’ it spit. ‘Refer to me as anything else at your peril.’

The threat was dull coming for a cute lion teddy bear. However, when the very floor began to shake after it crossed its arms and the rattling of bones could be heard all around us, we threw up our hands.

‘Mr. White Rabbit,’ Hero quickly said, ‘please forgive any rudeness on our part. Let us try again. My name is Hero Jakrin.’

The tremors vanished in an instant as a wide smile covered the lion’s face. ‘I’m happy we understand each other.’ It coughed in its tiny paw. ‘As I said, I’m the master of this place, The Great White Rabbit. Pleased to make your acquaintance.’

‘This place?’ Hero said wearily. ‘Do you mean this…town, or the dungeon?’

‘Both.’ We let that statement hang in the air. ‘The creator of this dungeon made me soI could take care of this place in case he had to leave someday.’ The bear glanced at something behind us, out into the distance. The corner of its eyes glistened for a moment, then it turned its gaze back on us. ‘What you see now is a shade of former glory, but I have done my best.’ The lion lowered and came to rest on the open leaflets of the book.

‘It’s a beautiful dungeon,’ Hero said. ‘The care and attention to detail given when it was crafted, and maintained, is exemplary and immediately noticeable.’

The dungeon master closed his eyes, hummed, and nodded, growing more animated with each compliment. ‘The Great White Rabbit is glad to have such youngsters with an eye for artistry in his midst.’ He popped a single eyelid open. ‘Say it.’

Hero opened and closed his mouth. ‘Say what, sir?’

‘“The Great White Rabbit,”’ it repeated.

I saw how Hero kept his brows from furrowing, and Twin B suppressed a mocking chuckle.

‘We’re thankful for your hospitality, The Great White Rabbit,’ Hero said after swallowing his pride.

‘The pleasure is mine, child. Now, you must be asking yourself: Why would someone as significant as the Great White Rabbit grace you with his presence?’

‘You drag the words out of my mouth, Great White Rabbit,’ Hero said.

May was carefully looking at the rabbit’s feet, I noticed, avoiding eye contact so she didn’t bark out laughter despite the pain she was in. Kate was doing the same. Boris had no such issue, given his stoic and taciturn nature and rather not wasting his vocal cords for no reason. But Dale, to my surprise, seemed to take all of this seriously. His eyes were glued to the teddy bear.

The White Rabbit swiped his tail and floated upwards again. ‘When I noticed someone had triggered Black Flame’s test, I became intrigued. All who have faced him up until now have died.’

‘But not only did you not die!’ it said, leaving unremarked that the cute looking creature had been interested in seeing our deaths, ‘but you beat him! What a performance. I truly enjoyed it! For that reason, I’m here to offer all of you a boon.’

‘A boon?’ May said.

White Rabbit raised its eyebrows, glaring at her dangerously.

‘The Great White Rabbit, sir,’ she added.

‘Don’t make that mistake again.’ The lion scoffed. He looked away and hovered over the lectern, holding out his hand. The space around the book rippled. All of us exclaimed and took a step back, taking formation. But the teddy bear removed a black scroll from the book. It looked exactly like our own. ‘You recognise this, yes? Normally you would receive this from completing the test attached to the Book of the Lost. I’m giving it to you, now. Consider it a reward for entertaining me.’

We bowed our heads. Genuinely. ‘Thank you, Great White Rabbit.’

He bobbed his head up and down gravely. Hero moved forwards to retrieve the map, but the lion plushy pulled away his hand at the last second and smiled. ‘However, I do have one request in return for this boon.’

May cast a sour glance, so Hero quickly spoke up. ‘Please speak, Great White Rabbit.’

The White Rabbit motioned behind him. I blinked. Two paths which had not been there before had appeared out of thin air. ‘The left path leads towards the Hearthtree. The right path leads towards the Crystal Palace.’ Before anyone could ask what those two names were, the Great White Rabbit shot into a dive, and appeared in front of me. ‘I want you to split from your group, and go down the path of the Crystal Palace.’

…What?