We were in the Dungeon.

  It was the one in Zeb to be exact. The sixteenth floor.

  There was nothing but pasture here. The monsters that spawned were bulls and they spawned in teams of four. If you beat enough of them, then a Wandering Boss would spawn that was about the same difficulty as the level twelve floor boss. Most farmers were moving fast enough that they would spawn the elite a couple times during their runs. They always stopped to pick up the loot from it. Primarily because I couldn’t pick up item drops as a Mundane. Even at level four, just holding weapons or armor from that level would burn me.

  “This is your happy place?” Klix was looking around. “I would have thought you’d be the luxury room at the Reds type of guy.”

  Before I could answer something hit me across the back of the head.

  “WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT FOLLOWING ME IN HERE!”

  I turned around and hugged the old man. “You’re okay!”

  Trent Vowler stood there for a moment, then pushed me away. “What are you doing here?”

  I pointed at the Goddess behind me. “Klix wanted to talk to you.”

  “I’m here to listen to what the Fox has to say.” Klix eyed my teacher. “But I do want to talk to you.” She glared at me. “Someone went off script.”

  “What do you want, Klix?” Trent sighed.

  “There are lots of things I want.” The ivory Goddess glared at me. “I’m not ready for that conversation yet.”

  “You were warned about this…” Mive let his rebuke fade as he looked at Klix and Trent. “This is new.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Yes, yes.” Klix turned to the kitsune. “Junior here says that demons possessed the Six and trapped you in here. Then after they freed you, they were told to execute the Six.” She eyed me. “Is that true?”

  Mive nodded. “Yes.” He looked at me. “Have you found a way to break this curse?”

  I pointed at Klix. “I got you to her.”

  Mive raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Klix. “Have you looked at it?”

  The ivory Goddess sighed. “Not yet. First order of business is to establish credibility.” She gestured at me, “We can leave now.”

  “I need to talk to Trent.” I touched my mentor.

  “Fine.” Klix looked at Mive. “What happened to your personal guard? No one has seen them in years.”

  “They were trapped in the seal like Trent.” Mive shook his head. “The Six had to in order to stop them from trying to rescue me.”

  I touched Trent’s arm and guided him away from that conversation.

  “What is so important that you’d risk getting trapped in here?” Trent eyed the two Gods conversing. “Seems like you found Mive.”

  “Yeah.” I pointed at Klix. “She knows.”

  Trent closed his eyes. “At least you’re still alive.” He looked at me. “How’d she find out?”

  “When we went to rescue them, the demons opened Mive’s Bequeathal Chamber and sucked us all in. Everyone except Justia, Whisper, Rix, and Ether were knocked out. Did you know that they could go into a Bequeathal Chamber? And there’s something going on with Klix, it seems like she knows Ether, but Ether didn’t know her.”

  Trent looked at Klix, then back at me and shook his head. “I need to get out of here.”

  “Mive said he could break the seal on Astrid, which should wake you up.” I swallowed. “Maybe Klix will…”

  “Klix will do what makes Klix happy.” Trent shook his head. “She also tends to join Slece when there are sanctioned Desolations.”

  “Tres said to trust her…”

  “Tres is also an idealist.” Trent shook his head. “He’s a good friend, but his first instinct is to protect, and until he’s labeled you a threat, he thinks of you as someone to shield.” Trent shook his head.

  “She’s here with Harror.”

  My mentor started rubbing his temple. “At least Slece isn’t here.”

  I looked back over at the Gods, who seemed to have run out of things to talk about. “Any words of wisdom?”

  “Would you follow them if I did?”

  I grinned. “Thanks. I’ll try to get you out of here as fast as I can.”

  Trent faded away, so I walked over to the Gods. “Are you ready to go?”

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