Chapter Text
There were hundreds of us outside when the end came.
During the summer months, there was an outdoor cinema that holds movies outside, after sunset—a sunset cinema, if you will. Hundreds of people—families, friend groups, work colleagues—would crowd into the park to watch something appropriate for all ages. There were children running around, parents talking, friends laughing. It was a wonderful end to a hot summer’s day, especially when it routinely hit 40˚C in the shade.
We were watching the sequel to some kind of kid’s movie that night—something with songs and bright colours, we weren’t paying much attention—when the fight started. It took us by surprise at first, because this wasn’t somewhere you could get away with drinking—not that it stopped the more determined members of the public from trying. I could smell weed smoke in the air, and I could see more than a couple of beer bottles in hands. There was a light breeze beginning to pick up over the water, and the night promised to be, if not cool, then cooler.
My friends and I were at this thing to babysit my friend Mark’s baby sister. She was here with one of her friends somewhere, probably running around on the grass. She was five, so having her sit still for more than a couple of minutes would be asking too much. Every now and then, she would come running up to us, give her brother a hug, then run off again with her friends. Collectively, we kept an eye on her, but we were also there to hang out with each other.
Aside from me, there was my boyfriend, Damien; his brother Mick; their friend from school and Dungeon Master, Alistair; as well as Mark and his girlfriend Elizabeth. The boys played Dungeons and Dragons every weekend, and they were in the middle of an argument regarding their latest session. I was new to the Dungeons and Dragons scene, and I’d only joined the last couple of sessions as a non-essential party member, to fill out the party for a big-bad confrontation. I could barely follow what the boys were arguing about as I lay on the blanket, watching the stars in the night sky.
It was hard to see them through the light pollution Canberra gave off, but they were there. I could see the Southern Cross, at least, and if I tried hard, that might be… Mars? Something zoomed across the sky, a streak of light in the darkness lasted only a few moments. I frowned at it but dismissed it. It was likely to be a small asteroid or something burning up in the atmosphere.
“Well, what if I used a Create Water spell to blanket the room with a sheet of water a few inches thick?” Mark asked Alistair, sounding frustrated. “Surely that would be enough to kill the fire elemental?”
Alistair laughed. “And what happens when that water heats up on its instant contact with the elemental?” he asked back.
“Sounds like you should cross-class into an artificer,” Mick said, yawning. “That’s the making of a steam engine.”
Mark made a frustrated noise, and I tuned them out, swatting at a mosquito. The lake by Parliament House had an unfortunate habit of gathering biting insects, all of which loved to eat at my skin. I scratched at the spot until the welt rose, then forced my hand back behind my head, trying to ignore the itching. Crappy bugs aside, this was a good night to see out the last of the Christmas/New Year holidays.
Elizabeth patted my leg, gaining my attention. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she lifted her chin in the direction of a group a few people ahead of us, watching them. I sat up, resting on my elbows, and realised the woman standing between us and the screen was screaming at the people sitting on the ground at her feet. My ears pricked up when I realised the woman was screaming at a man about cheating on her with the “hussy” sitting next to him. I exchanged a look with Elizabeth, enjoying the potential for gossip that would come from this, and turned to where the boys were now arguing over the logistics of a halfling carrying an ogre to safety.
We shushed the boys, and they turned to look at us. Before we could gesture to the screaming match, the group homed in on the screaming woman, now being addressed by a couple of the attendants working security for the event. We weren’t the only people watching the event, but the woman seemed oblivious to the surrounding crowd’s attention when she reached down and yanked the “hussy” to her feet by her hair, making the woman cry out.
A couple of my friends climbed to their feet, looking like they were going to intervene, but the security guards grabbed the standing woman and pulled the pair apart, shielding the victim from her attacker and trying to get the aggressive woman to leave.
The woman stalked away, yelling at her husband and his girlfriend as she went. The crowd watched her, unsure if she was about to go berko and attack them again, when a deep rumble shook the world around us.
“Is that an earthquake?” someone called from in front of us.
“Hang on, what happened to the library?” someone else called out.
A bunch of kids started screaming. Our group surged to our feet, looking around, Mark calling for his sister. Not only was the National Library gone, but so was Questacon, the High Court, the Portrait Gallery, the High Court… every building surrounding us, up to and including Old Parliament House, was gone, on both sides of the lake. There were copious trees still standing and the gardens were untouched, but everything with a roof was gone. I couldn’t see through the dust of Old Parliament House to tell if the new Parliament House was still standing, buried under a hill as it was, but that wasn’t really my priority.
I turned around, looking over the small hill up to the car park, and realised that my car was gone. Mark’s car was gone, as was Alistair’s. A couple of motorbikes waited where they’d been parked, but aside from a convertible whose roof had been left down, the vehicles were all gone.
“What the hell?” one of the boys murmured, the sound barely registering in my ears.
There was utter silence beyond the sound of children crying, Margie in Mark’s arms currently the loudest. I couldn’t hear traffic on the Kings Avenue Bridge, couldn’t see the headlights of the cars. It was like something had grabbed everything manmade in the area and yanked it downwards, leaving a large hole where the underground rooms of the Library had been only a few moments before.
There was nothing. Everything was gone, allowing the dying sunset breeze to roll across the water unabated towards us. All the buildings, the cars, even the stalls that had been set up to cater to the movie-going crowd… they were gone.
I pulled out my phone, intending to call home, to see if my parents were okay. If this weird destruction had spread, if it was as far away as Sydney, or Melbourne… well, I didn’t want to think about that.
Before I could even turn on the screen of my phone, a voice echoed through my head, a robotic male voice. Floating in front of my face was some kind of weird language, and even though it wasn’t English, I could read and understand the words perfectly.
Surviving humans take note.
I jumped, dropping my phone, and quickly bent to pick it up again. Damien grabbed my hand, pulling me back closer to him. The text floated in front of my vision, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the words but they remained, as though burned onto my retinas.
“Did you hear that?” he asked me.
I looked up at his face. “Yeah. What—?”
Per Syndicate rules, subsection 543 of the Precious Elemental Reserves Code, having failed to file a proper appeal for mineral and elemental rights within 50 Solars of first contact, your planet has been successfully seized and is currently being mined of all requested elemental deposits by the assigned planetary regent.
Every interior of your world has been crushed and all raw materials—organic and inanimate—are in the process of being mined for the requested elements.
Per the Mined Material Reclamation act along with subsection 35 of the Indigenous Planetary Species Protection Act, any surviving humans will be given the opportunity to reclaim their lost matter. The Borant Corporation, having been assigned regency over this solar system, is allowed to choose the manner of this reclamation, and they have chosen option 3, also known as the 18-Level World Dungeon. The Borant Corporation retains all rights to broadcast, exploit, and otherwise control all aspects of the World Dungeon and will remain in control as long as they adhere to Syndicate regulations regarding world resource reclamation.
Upon successful completion of level 18 of the World Dungeon, regency of this planet will revert to the successor.
A Syndicate neutral observer AI—myself—has been created and dispatched to this planet to supervise the creation of the World Dungeon and to ensure all the rules and regulations are properly followed.
Please pay careful attention to the following information as it will not be repeated. Per the Indigenous Planetary Species Protection Act, all remaining materials—estimated to be 99.999999% of the sifted matter—is currently being repurposed for the subterranean World Dungeon. The first level of this dungeon will open approximately 18 seconds after the end of this announcement. The first-level entrances will be open for exactly one human hour and one hour only. Once the entrances are closed, you may no longer enter. If you enter, you may not leave until you have either completed all 18 levels of the World Dungeon or if you meet certain other requirements.
If you choose not to enter the World Dungeon, you will have to sustain yourself upon the surface of your planet, and this may be the last communication you receive during your lifetime. All previously-processed matter and elements are forfeit. However, you are free to mine and utilize any remaining and naturally-occurring resources for your own benefit. The Borant Corporation wishes you luck and thanks you for the opportunity.
For those who wish to exercise their right of resource reclamation, please take note.
There will be 150,000 level-one entrances added to the world. These entrances will be marked and easy to spot. If you so choose to enter the first level of the dungeon, you will have five rotations of your planet to find the next level down. There will be 75,000 entrances to level two. There will be 37,500 entrances to level three. 18,750 to level 4. 9,375 entrances to level 5 and 4,688 entrances to level 6. The number of available entrances to the next lower level will continue to decrease by half, rounding up until the 18th level, which will only have two entrances and a single exit.
Crawlers who choose to enter the World Dungeon must find a staircase and descend to the next level down before the allotted time is up for that level. Once the time has passed, the level will be reclaimed and all remaining matter in the level, organic and inanimate, will be forfeit. Generated loot and other matter that is not gathered and claimed may be placed in the Syndicate market.
Each lower level will have a longer period of reclamation. Additional rules come into play once any crawlers descend to the tenth floor. These rules will be explained when and if any crawlers reach this level.
If you so choose to enter the World Dungeon, it is highly recommended you immediately find and utilize a tutorial guild. Multiple tutorial guilds will be seeded throughout the dungeon on levels 1 through 3.
If you have any additional questions, or you wish to file an appeal, such requests must be submitted in writing directly to the closest Syndicate office.
Thank you for being a part of the Syndicate. Have a great day.
“What the hell?” I muttered, even as I heard Alistair excitedly exclaim, “A dungeon? Are you kidding? Is this real?”
A horn call, similar to a trumpet, blasted through the air and a beam of light lit up the sky a few hundred feet away, on the other side of Questacon’s carpark, a delicious coolness radiating from the opening where the light was emitting, even this far away. Alistair made to walk straight towards it, but Mark grabbed his shoulder, holding him back. His sister, Margie, was clinging to his shoulder, howling in fear.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mark demanded, holding onto Alistair’s arm. “This isn’t a game, you idiot. You don’t know what’s going to happen down there!”
I didn’t hear Alistair’s response, as I was trying to get my phone to turn on. It was like there had been an EMP with the collapse of the buildings, killing my phone. I was starting to panic, I could feel it; the tightening in my chest, the tears in my eyes. I needed to talk to my family, to see if they were still okay. I had to know they were okay.
Finally, the phone turned on, but there was no signal.
I groaned, shoving the phone back in my pocket. Of course. The satellites and other infrastructure would be attacked in the wake of this… this incursion, whatever it was. My phone could play games, I guessed, but there was no connection, no internet.
My chest tightened, and I started to breathe faster, heavier. I couldn’t contact my parents. What if they were inside? What if the thing that pulled the buildings down into the ground had crushed them on its way down?
“Wanda?” Damien called, gripping the top of my arms. “Wanda, are you okay? Calm down, it’ll be alright.”
He pulled me into a hug and I collapsed into tears, clinging to him. This was ridiculous; it was like it was the end of the world, and I couldn’t do anything but cling to my boyfriend and cry. I fought to control my breathing, to take solace in the fact that he was still here. My friends were still here, and that included Alistair, who could tactic himself out of a dead end given half the motivation to do so.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Mark snapped at Alistair, the seven of us standing close together in the crowd, which was quickly turning rowdy as they realised that their methods of transport were gone.
Margie was still crying, and Mark leaned down to pick her up, only letting go of his friend to do so. She wrapped her arms around his neck while Elizabeth cooed to her, trying to calm her down.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen in that hole. You have to be really stupid to think that anything like that could possibly be fun,” Mark snapped. “This isn’t one of your games, Alistair. You have to think about what you’re doing. What consequences your actions will manifest for all of us.”
Alistair looked from the hole where a handful of people were descending in the middle of the Earth, to the rest of us. “Well, if you’re all too scared, that’s fine. But I’m going in. Considering it doesn’t look like there’s any food, shelter or sanity left up here, I suggest you come with me.” He looked to Mark. “There’s nothing up here. At least down there, we have a way of gathering resources and things to survive. I don’t want to rely on the chance of finding it up here. ‘You will have to sustain yourself upon the surface of your planet’? You think after they’ve taken every building and car, that you’ll find something to eat before the rest of these people?” he demanded.
“What about our families?” I asked, peeking out from where I was clinging to Damien still. “What if they come looking for us?”
“We can scratch a note in the dirt or something,” Alistair shrugged, his anger clearly not aimed at me. He looked back at the cinema, where the movie continued to play, though no one was watching it anymore. “Come on, we only have an hour. You heard the voice; we have to be on the stairs before the entrance closes. But you’re right about one thing, Mark. We need resources.” He turned to look at me, and I noticed an almost maniacal glint in his eye. “Wanda, help me gather everything we can carry; we don’t know what will be helpful down there. Think of it as… stocking up,” he said with a smile, looking at the open esky to his left that still had a couple of bottles of beer sitting in it.
I looked up at Damien; he looked down at me. Damien sighed, shooting Mark an apologetic look.
“We will be safer with him,” he said, jerking his chin towards Alistair, “and you know it. He’s got the mind of a tactician, and between him and Mick, they’ll keep us safe. You watch, they’ll work out how to break the dungeon within an hour of getting in there.” He smiled down at me. “I guess that our latest D&D session will have to wait; time to roll us some new characters and go out in a blaze of glory.”
I looked at my friends, some of whom looked scared, some determined. Only Alistair looked excited, as though he couldn’t wait to go on this adventure. He was currently picking though the remains of peoples’ picnics, as the crowd had abandoned everything in favour of running for their children, attempting to run home, or heading over to have a stickybeak at the hole in the ground. Just where I stood, I could spot a couple of bags of weed, carelessly left under a chair, and a large packet of snake lollies, though not the good kind.
I swallowed hard, then pulled back, taking Damien’s hand. I turned to look at the rest of the group, taking a deep breath. I could only hope my parents were safe, but there was a niggling voice at the back of my mind that said they’d been inside, watching television. If they were, then they were probably vanished when the buildings were taken, or whatever happened.
If they weren’t, and they survived, then it would take longer than the hour to get to Sydney to find them.
If we went down the stairs, and they did too, maybe we could eventually meet up with them. Maybe.
“Two rules,” I said, looking around at my friends. “One, no leaving anyone behind. Two, don’t speak at me in your Dungeons and Dragons talk. Clear communication, got it?”
The boys nodded. Alistair was grinning, looking like he was restraining himself from bouncing on his toes.
With a sigh, I looked up at Alistair. “Okay, Mr DM. Loot then descend?”
He grinned, picking up an esky he’d stacked full of abandoned drinks. “Loot and descend.”
We gathered up our things, packing them in a handful of the bags we found, just in case. It took us about twenty minutes, and I kept an eye on the time, nervously glancing at my watch. I was worried people would come after us for looting their things, but I realised pretty quickly that they had other fights to battle; two men were arguing loudly over the hole in the ground, and one pushed the other into the hole. He toppled and disappeared out of sight, and the other man, followed by his friends, followed him in.
When we’d gathered everything we could, Alistair led us through the much smaller crowd of people still standing at the entrance to the hole and we stopped, looking down. The staircase had appeared in the centre of the mound between the Portrait Gallery and Questacon, built into the depths of the place. The air wafting out of it felt like an air-conditioned room awaited us below, and we could feel the movement of what might have been a breeze coming up out of the Earth. The people around us were still hesitating, unsure of whether they wanted to go down into the dungeon or not. I could feel the anxious excitement blossoming into life in my chest, like I was getting ready to go on a date or do a presentation at work.
“Are they using the tunnels between the Memorial and Parliament House to facilitate this?” Damien wondered aloud as we stood around the edge of the hole, looking down. “The air’s nice and cool.”
The steps were made of quartz and granite, the local stone of the area. I couldn’t see far enough down into the stairwell to see what the walls looked like, but it didn’t look like a walkway to hell, even if the thought kept randomly cropping up in my mind.
“Must be,” Alistair said. He held out his hand to Mick, who hesitated before he took it. “Everyone got everything? All right, let’s go.”
I hefted my overstuffed bag onto my shoulders and held tight to the bag of food I’d been assigned to carry, glad I’d brought the backpack today—I had some snacks and a jumper in there, as well as a book for reading, my emergency Alan keys, a water bottle, and a couple of the box cutters I used at work. If memory served, there was also a permanent marker or two in there, a pen, some fingerless gloves, and my wrist brace. On top of that, I’d somehow ended up being the one to carry the picnic blanket, and I’d folded it up and shoved it in the top of my bag.
We held hands, heading down the stairs in a chain, Mark on the end with Margie on his hip. The crowd above us were talking loudly, and I could still hear that crazy woman shrieking about her cheating husband as we descended, the sound amplified by the stairwell. I could hear more people discussing whether they should follow us, but those who had already made up their mind had descended long before us.
When we stepped below the Earth, the sound outside seemed to cut off, so all we could hear was our own breathing and our footsteps. We walked slowly, cautiously at first, but by step 200 we were all starting to walk a lot faster, clearly hoping to be done with this descent and get into the game. To occupy myself when I wasn’t just counting the stairs beneath my feet, I looked around us, paying attention the walls and our surrounds in case it would become important later. Along the walls were placed honest-to-God old-fashioned torches in their sconces, the fire burning a strange darker orange than I was used to. The stairs were polished stone, and a little slippery under our feet. Only Mick was wearing real shoes; the rest of us were wearing thongs, which had a hard time gripping on the stone.
I suddenly noticed a buzzing feeling just behind my eyeballs, like a bug had drilled up my nose and into my sinus. I sneezed, but that didn’t stop the feeling.
“Whoa, hold up. Do you feel that?” Mark asked.
We stopped and I looked around, glad I wasn’t the only one who could feel it. I looked at the carvings that graced the doors in front of us, and suddenly something popped up in my vision. I squeaked and jumped backwards, landing on Mick’s foot.
“Ow! Wanda!” he snapped, shoving me back gently onto my own feet. “Watch it.”
A floating box had appeared in front of my face, the words that same weird language that I could somehow read.
“Well, I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore,” I heard Elizabeth mutter behind me.
This is a rendition of a Kua-Tin, the dominant species of the Borant System and principal owners of the Borant Corporation. Make sure you recognize these guys. There’ll be a test later.
Alistair reached forward, as though clicking away from the notification. I noticed a small X in the corner of the window, and even as I thought about it, the thing vanished. Alistair put his hand down, clearly feeling a little self-conscious, then reached forward to touch the door.
“What are we doing?” Elizabeth asked, looking around at us. “You know this is crazy, right? It’s not too late to go back.”
“What would we go back to?” Mick asked, stepping up beside his boyfriend and touching the door, as though he thought he would find more information touching it. “But if the world’s ending, we might as well play one more game before we go.”
“Well, that’s one way to put it,” I sighed, resigned to the idea of doing this. “After all, the Transformers philosophy hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”
“’Transformers philosophy’?” Mick asked, looking back at me. “What’s that?”
“’In twenty years, don’t you want to say you had the guts to get in the car?’” I quoted, reaching up to touch the door as well, as though casting a silent vote.
Damien stepped up beside me and put his hand on the door, offering me a small smile. “You know that’s a horrible movie, right?” he said.
“Silver lining,” I answered.
I could feel the panic and fear writhing in my stomach, but I was determined not to let this beat me. I had only played a few sessions of D&D so far, so I was at almost as bad an advantage as Elizabeth, who’d never played. This could either be the best game ever or a living nightmare, but we wouldn’t know which way that dice would fall until we started playing.
Either way, I wouldn’t have to go to work tomorrow, and that thought almost made the fear eating my guts worth it.
Mark and Margie put their hands on the door, then looked back at Elizabeth. She looked like she wanted to cry. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said, looking between us. “This isn’t what I usually do for fun. I have no idea how any of this works, and—”
“We know,” Alistair said, gesturing her forward. “Don’t worry. Nobody gets left behind. Right, Wanda?” he asked, looking at me.
I nodded. “That’s right.”
Elizabeth glanced at Mark, then took her own calming breath, stepped up to the door and placed her hand on it.
“Push on three,” Alistair said, turning to look at the door. “One, two—”
The door swung open, admitting us into the dungeon. We looked around, surprised to see it was little more than the continuation of the corridor behind us, albeit a lot larger. There were torches in intervals along the stone walls, giving the whole thing a dusk-like lighting vision.
“Alright, everyone, game strategy,” Alistair said. “Spread out, watch your feet, don’t touch anything you don’t have to, and sing out if you spot anything out of place.”
I stepped into the corridor after Alistair and Mick, who paused for a moment in the doorway before stepping in. I realised after a second that they were reacting to the same welcome message I received as I stepped into the corridor.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the First Floor.
This was a new voice, more relaxed, less robotic. In fact, if I didn’t know any better—and I wasn’t sure I didn’t—I would say the man sounded like old Ernie McGuire on Millionaire, all fake enthusiasm and joy.
A timer flicked into being in the corner of my vision, making me jerk to a stop, but I moved forward quickly so the others could enter the floor.
4 days, 23 hours, and 25 minutes.
I took a deep breath but let it out in a squeak when the doors slammed closed behind us.
Female crawlers take note: You will not be subject to natural fertility and menstruation cycles while in the dungeon. Pregnant crawlers and children are not allowed in the dungeon. All ineligible members of your party will be transported to the Kinder facility on the surface, to await the end of the crawl.
I turned, looking at the others, and noticed a word floating above Margie’s head. It was flashing red, as though it were a warning.
Ineligible.
“Uh, Mark? What—?”
Margie suddenly vanished out of his arm, and Mark swore, reaching out as though to catch her. She was gone before he could even react.
“What the fuck!” he yelled, spinning around on the spot. “Where did she go?”
“It said ineligible,” I said, walking over towards him. “I got a message—you didn’t get one? It said kids and pregnant people couldn’t be in the dungeon. I guess she wasn’t allowed in here. She’s been sent to a facility on the surface, I think.”
“But where did she go?” he demanded, as though I could tell him.
“I don’t know,” I said, looking around at the others. “Wait, where’s Elizabeth?”
“She had the marking too,” Damien said, stepping closer to me, as though for protection. “It said she was ineligible to be here, or something.”
“There you go,” I said to Mark, holding his hand. “Elizabeth and Margie are together. It’s okay, she’s not alone.”
Mark took a shaky breath, closing his eyes for a moment. “Wait, you said… children and pregnant people?”
I nodded, realising at the same instant as the others what that meant.
“She’s pregnant,” he breathed. “Holy shit, she’s pregnant.” He ran his hands through his hair, linking his hands behind his head as he spun on the spot, clearly overwhelmed for a minute.
“I mean, congrats,” Damien said, glancing at me then gripping his friend’s shoulder. “But think of it this way: she and Margie are safe, out of the way of harm here, as is the baby. They’ll be looked after, and we can focus on playing this game, to win back our planet.”
“You’ll have to keep going anyway,” Mick said quietly. “I don’t think those doors are opening for us again.”
We all turned to look at the doors, then at each other.
“No, I don’t think they are either.” Mark turned to look at Alistair. “Okay, fearless leader. Where to now? What do we do?”
Alistair looked at the man as though he had two heads. “I know about as much as you. For this game, zI’m as much a player as you.”
“What about that tutorial guild the announcement talked about?” Damien asked. “We could start there.”
I nodded along with the others. We all turned around, looking at the corridors, searching for a clue. I jumped when a notification appeared in front of my eyes, but I realised I hadn’t jumped that far—I was getting used to the damn things popping into my head now. Maybe by the time we left the dungeon, I would be so used to it that I wouldn’t jump anymore.
You have been designated Crawler Number 72,297. You have been assigned the crawler name “Wanda S.”
You are assigned the race of Human. You are currently level 1. You may choose a new race and class as soon as you descend to the third floor. Your stat points have been assigned based on your current physical and mental profile. See the stat menu for more details.
“Everyone get that notification?” Damien asked cautiously, looking back towards us. Before I could answer, another notification smothered my vision.
Congratulations, you’ve earned your first achievement: Packing.
You’ve entered the dungeon carrying not only supplies and a blanket, but entertainment too! Don’t worry, we don’t think you’ll find this dungeon boring enough to find time to read.
Reward: You’ve received a bronze Well, Someone’s Prepared box.
New Achievement! Prepared.
You’ve brought a weapon or two into the dungeon. That’s using your noggin. You might want to go easy on the mobs with those things, though—who knows what kind of damage you could do with a blade that small.
Reward: You’ve received a gold Stabby box.
I waited a few more seconds, but that seemed to be all I was going to receive. I looked around at the others as the achievements faded, and felt a bit better. They were a little glossy-eyed, clearly reading notifications as well.
Finally, Alistair snapped out of it, and looked around. The other boys slowly broke from their reading, looking back to him.
“Okay,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face, then looking at the three corridors in front of us—one to the left, one to the right, and one straight in front of us. “I say we head straight forward first?” he half-asked.
The corridor in front of us was wide, well-lit and easy to see down—it was a great place to start our adventure. To the left, the corridor grew smaller, then turned sharply to the right, disappearing out of view. To the right, the corridor seemed to end in a darkened pit, with the torches there doing nothing to dispel the large shadow on the floor. I assumed it was a pit anyway, and decided I wanted no part in potentially falling down into it.
“Sure,” I shrugged, looking around at the others. There were a lot of non-committal replies to his words, and he sighed.
“All right. Spread out, eyes open, don’t touch anything you don’t need to.”
We headed off, and I occasionally looked back over my shoulder, sure there was something watching us. We were walking slowly, but even still, we almost missed the sign to the tutorial guild as we went. The sign wasn’t too far away, only down the corridor about four hundred feet, but it was hidden, as though lost in the half-darkness between the two torches.
When I spotted the sign, that weird buzzing behind my sinus came back, and I tried hard to hold back the sneeze, my eyes watering as a new notification appeared in front of me.
New achievement! You’ve discovered and read an official dungeon sign.
Wow. You can read. Whoopie.
Reward: All official dungeon signage will now be highlighted and easier to spot. Nearby guilds will appear on your minimap.
The sign was written in that weird language with an arrow pointing almost directly down to a door that was cleverly camouflaged to the wall around it. I pointed it out to the boys, who gathered around it, looking closely at it.
“Should we see if there’s anyone home?” I asked, stepping forward.
The boys took a half-step back, as though preparing to run if I let a creature out to eat us. I understood the sentiment, even if I was annoyed that they would rather sacrifice me than one of their own. Doors in Alistair’s game had a habit of being mimics in disguise, and I was probably chancing a trap by simply knocking. Still, I’d rather whatever was on the other side of the door started off with a good introduction than a bad one, so it was only polite to knock.
I took another quick look up and down the corridor, then reached forward and knocked smartly on the wooden door.
“Hang on a moment, hang on,” a voice called, and I could hear footsteps approaching. I waited, listening to the approaching person on the other side of the door, feeling the fear in my gut uncoiling again. What if this was wrong? What if it was a trap?
“Who is it?” the voice called through the door, decidedly closer than their first call.
I glanced at the boys, unsure what to say, then cleared my throat. “Uh, hi. My name’s Wanda, I’m a crawler, I think. We were told to find a tutorial guild? The sign above your door says this is, and—”
“Oh, a crawler,” the voice said, sounding delighted. I realised the person on the other side of the door was a woman, though not much older than me. She sounded kind of like a teacher, if I were to be honest, and I felt myself relax a little as I heard the locks inside the door shifting and unlocking. “I haven’t seen a crawler in so long, it’ll be nice to have you in here for a spell.”
The door opened, and I couldn’t help but let out a scream as the literal incarnation of the devil opened the door for us to enter their abode.