"Five paladins are not a small force, Arbiter Nextom," Ranus spoke to the group before him.

"Lord Goldwind, the churches are concerned with the appearance of twisted monsters in the valley and the threat they pose to the community and Dungeon." Nextom was calm as he talked.

"I respect that view, Arbiter. What has me concerned is that they are here with all the additional militant orders and not one of you informed me that they were here."

"As long as the militant orders protect the churches. We are respecting your decree." Nextom countered.

The room was filled with all the church leaders. They were split along the lines of the two courts: the "light" on one side and the "dark" on the other. They had chosen Nextom to act as the group's voice. He and Ranus had the most interactions, making him the logical one to speak for them all. Ranus was still amazed that they could all stand in the same room without violence. There were glares, but no weapons were drawn or spells cast.

"Then why did they appear when the Dungeon was attacked?" Ranus questioned.

"In that, we must ask for your forgiveness. We arranged to approach you privately and discuss the situation with them in the town." Nextom's tone was more consolidatory. Ranus believed he was speaking the truth and that the appearance of the twisted monster forced their hand.

"We wish to ask that you hear our proposal, Lord Goldwind." This came from Cleric Asham.

"Proposal? You represent the Gods. I am surprised you have not come in here demanding." Ranus decided to get to the heart of the matter and stopped avoiding the difficult words.

"That is true, but we are too bound by the ancient laws that the Pantheon agreed to follow. This means we must respect your position. We have also been welcomed under your rulership and do not want to disrupt the balance within your community." Nextom spoke and many nodded behind him. Ranus knew them all as they presented themselves to him as they established their temples and churches.

"Then what is your proposal, Arbiter Nextom?" Ranus knew he would not get anywhere before they made their offer.

"As I have said, we are grateful you allowed us to build our temples here. We wish you would allow us to continue basing paladins and other militant orders. Also, we wish you to give your blessings on the presence of these forces." Nextom was deadpan as he spoke, which only increased Ranus's disbelief as he laid out the proposal.

"Anything else?" Ranus was unable to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

"No, Lord Ranus. We understand we are asking a lot. In return, those temples with forces present will give a greater land rent to your household." Nextom gave Ranus the sweet part of the offer.

After a few moments, Ranus said, "Not enough." His words caused a ripple of surprise and unease. Most did not expect such a rejection. A few did and were not as unsettled as the others. A few started to get angry at being refused.

"What do you want, Lord Ranus?" Nextom asked, heading off the more hot-headed.

"I want answers. Why are you all here, and what does it have to do with the Dungeon and the twisted monsters?" Ranus could hold back no more. He had too many questions and no answers. He had been holding his tongue, but he could no longer.

Another ripple of unease swept the room. Again, most did not expect what he asked of them, but a few did. Many looked to the others within the court they were linked to and across the room to the other side. What could they say?

"We cannot speak on this, Lord Ranus." Nextom finally spoke.

"Then we are at an impasse," Ranus said to the room.

Silence now dominated the room. The priests were unsure of what to do. Although they had received instructions from the divine patrons, they had not been told what to do here. Nextom once again took the lead.

"We cannot give you the answer to those questions, " Nextom said. But to forestall any other words from the young Lord, he continued, "We simply do not have the answers you seek. Our patrons have not enlightened us as to why; it is just that the Dungeon must be watched and any twisted monsters that appear to attack the town must be dealt with."

His words caused many to hiss and groan from the others. His admittance to that had revealed something that many of the priests had been hiding, the knowledge that they did not even fully know what was happening. This surprised Ranus because they did not fully understand what was happening and even admitted to it.

Now that he understood the situation, he was thinking quickly about what to do or say. He never expected this answer.

"I will allow the presence of the paladins. The other militant orders can also stay as long as they defend the temples unless a twisted monster attacks the town." Ranus decided to offer an olive branch at a cost. "But I want my questions answered before I take any further action."

Nextom looked to the others behind him. Some shook their heads, some added and many shrugged. He turned back to Ranus.

"We will ask. But be warned, Lord Ranus, the Gods may not like your questions and seek punishment. Or worse, they might answer them."

"We are at a time, Arbiter, when the questions must be asked, as the cost might be worse in the long run," Ranus said with a sigh. The others could not say he was wrong.

## ## ## ## ##

"We must make that mortal pay for such impudence!" Badtor yelled out during this new meeting of the Gods. Many rolled their eyes or groaned at his interruption.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"And what would the God of War, Duels and Slaughter suggest?" Lawdrun enquired.

"I will have my priest beat him thoroughly in front of his subjects in a divine-sanctioned duel." Badtor retorted.

"And in doing that, you must inform the watchers why the duel is taking place." Lawdrun reminded him. This caused Badtor to fall silent, but he still was angry.

"We must come up with a response to the questions presented to us by Lord Goldwind." Hackyon joined the conversation. The Pantheon had gathered and argued since their priests had informed them of the discussion with the young Lord.

"You got to respect him pushing his luck like that," Rickle said, chuckling. Some glared, but most ignored him.

"Something must be said." Oda thought out loud. "We are all getting more prayers from our followers as the number of void corrupted increases. They are becoming more of a recognised threat to all."

"Can we take what Oda has done and correct the mistakes with new Dungeons?" Tan asked. The Gods turned to Astraus.

"The same problem exists. After the Folly, the part of the layer of reality that Dungeons inhabit was damaged and has not healed. New Dungeon Cores are complicated things to create and normally require several Gods to work together to create under my supervision." She glared at Oda when she spoke the last part. "We have created several new ones outside of Kyber, but placing one there always failed. We now know that the void corrupt essence interferes with the establishing process. Oda succeeded because this Core was created to interact with the corruption."

"Then we come together and make more," Iliana said.

"We cannot." Xandus then spoke. "Creating these Cores is possible, but getting the souls to inhabit them is extremely difficult. Oda went beyond our realms to find one. That he did was a stroke of immense fortune. Bhaldor has the right mixture of characteristics to perform the job of this type of Core and not go insane."

"What you call him sane!" Rickle was now laughing hard. The rest still ignored him.

"Surely there are souls capable of the deed in our realms?" Apharon asked.

"The souls must be a unique mixture of characteristics and have been touched by the void but not corrupted by it. His original world was one such place. We might be able to get one or two more, but taking more might have unintended consequences." Xandus continued.

This brought the group to silence. They did not want to think about what that could mean.

"We are losing sight of the issue. What shall we do with Goldwind?" Astraus asked.

The Gods broke into several conversations as different ideas were explored and debated. Oda watched and thought over the problem. They had to do something but were not coming to anything practical.

"We can just tell him," Oda said. His words travelled through the group, and they all fell silent and looked at him. "We will bound him by a vow, but we can give him the basic breakdown of the situation."

"That could work," Nictor said with some hesitance.

"Have any of you any better solutions?" Oda challenged them. Their silence told him everything he needed to know. Many looked at each other, asking the same question with their looks. Could it work?

"We could do that. As Oda said, we can use a vow of silence not to have him speak about what he has learned. This might have a positive effect if the Lord supported our goals." Lawdrun came to support Oda's idea. Many of the Gods understood and came to agree with Oda's ideas.

"What will we tell him?" Tan asked, provoking another round of conversation and arguments.

"We should tell him only the basics. We will tell him of void corruption, not where it comes from. It is a threat, but we are dealing with it. The Dungeon is part of the plan and it is important to us that it survives." Lawdrun offered. Many agreed with his idea, but some were still opposed. The group was now leaning towards his concept and Oda was pleased.

"If we agree, who should do this?" Astraus asked. She became aware of most looking in her direction. "Why are you looking at me?"

## ## ## ## ##

Shezar was unhappy. She had been called upon again to act as the emissary of her Goddess. Since the discovery of the Dungeon, her once quiet little corner of the main office floor has been anything but. Denall, her manager, was demanding nearly daily updates.

She had been summoned with him to Astruas's presence again, given her flying orders and sent back down to the mortal realm again. During her last visit, she discovered something very important: she did not like this valley.

Hidden by her divine-enhanced invisibility spell, she flew towards the town. It was closer to a city now. It was getting late, but the place was still full of activity. She had been given instructions to do two things. Give a message to Lord Goldwind, but first go back to the Dungeon. She had been given a crystal along with her instructions.

She shivered at these instructions. Since its discovery, the fairies have been speculating about it.

The Dungeon was an unknown factor. Astraus told her she would be fine as she told her what needed to be done. However, this Dungeon did not follow the standard rules and Shezar was dubious about the claims of her safety.

The tower was in sight and she watched the last adventurers and miners leave. She went up to the open section at the tower's top. She stopped and took a deep breath to calm herself before crossing into the Dungeons aura.

Passing through into the Dungeon-controlled space was strange, as if she were passing through a warm, light rain mixed with cold snow. The floor hatch leading to the stairwell was open, and she flew down the stairs. Blue moss grew on the walls, now giving off faint light, the first difference since her last visit.

She went down through the surface building and then the floors. The Dungeon was deeper than before, with more blue moss lighting her way. It gave everything a strange blue tint that was a bit off-setting. She sensed some of the Dungeon minions as she went. They got stronger as she went down and her unease grew.

The sixth was where the stairs ended. Like last time, the room looked like a construction site, paused as they were getting ready to go deeper. This was the core room, which was hiding in the stairwell pillar. She had to admit it was a good hiding place, as most ignored the stairs unless they were trapped.

Shezar reached into her dimensional bag and pulled out the crystal she had been given. Astruas had secretly been working on it since she had come to understand this Dungeon's unique circumstances. She lifted the crystal to her mouth and it glowed when she channelled a little mana into it.

"I am Shezar, emissary of Astruas, Goddess of Challenges, Struggle and Dungeons. I have come on her behalf to speak with you." She followed the script she was given. According to her Goddess, this crystal would allow her to speak with the Core.

"Eh? What can I hear and understand you?" The voice that came from the crystal was confused. The accent was strange, but she could understand it.

"Dungeon Bhaldor, I have been sent to inform you that you fall under Astruas's domain. She apologises to you for not contacting you sooner and informing you of the required duties and rules that apply to you. As a Dungeon, she expects them to be followed from now on. I have been tasked with informing you of them." Shezar had been told to use Astruas name in its true spoken form to impress her commands on the Core. "Do you understand?"

Silence.

Moments pass.

This was not supposed to happen. The Core should have followed her instructions by using her Goddess's name. She was panicking inside and struggling to maintain a calm exterior.

"Dungeon Bhaldor, do you understand Astruas Is your Goddess?" She pressed harder by emphasising the Goddess's name.

"… So, let me get this straight. You fly in here without even by your leave and tell me that some Goddess has decided that I work for her and should follow any rules she dictates to me." The voice from the crystal asked.

"Y-Yes." This was not going the way she expected. The crystal went silent for several moments.

"Bugger off!" Was the answer.

"W-What did you say?" She stammered out.

"I said, "Bugger Off"." He repeated.

Shezar was lost for a few moments. That was not the answer she expected and did not know what to do now.

"Well, if that's all, then best you go." The voice said.

"But I am an emissary of the Goddess Astraus." She said weakly. "You should be honoured to be part of her Divine realm."

"Oh, is that right? Well, this is the things I think about Gods…"