84 - What A Dungeon Really Is

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Lexie blinked. “I thought that’s what you just did." 

“No, I told you what we’re taught,” he said. “Fortunately, I have access to confidential details that most people don't know, not even [Heroes].”

“Let me guess. It’s because you’ve played this game before.” Lexie had wondered, given that Tate had also been a video game nerd when she knew him. She could sometimes see him playing on his phone during class.

He smiled. “Something like that. But again this isn’t a game. Everything that happens here is real. But my prior knowledge of this world’s mechanics is how I can tell you that a dungeon isn’t created by a confluence of mana that opens the portal. It’s something more insidious.” He chewed on his next set of words and asked, “What, if anything, do you know about the Eldritch?”

That made Lexie pause. Where did that come from? Was he actually stalking her? Did he see Naem leave her home? Was he about to use that to blackmail her?

But she turned and his expression had not changed, simply holding that quiet intensity as he stared at her. Not threatening, or seeming like a ‘gotcha’. Just waiting. 

She tried to shrug casually so as not to give off how freaked out she was. “About the same as most people I guess. Why?”

“Because they’re a big part of this. Dungeons aren’t actually made from random confluence of mana. Rather it is made a confluence of Eldritch mana, mana siphoned from the souls and minds of the eldritch,” he said. “They are essentially large pocket dimensions created from eldritch dreams. Or nightmares depending on how you want to look at it.”

Lexie's jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

Tate nodded and just waited for her to digest it as he continued walking.

She followed him distractedly, her mind racing. Dungeons created from the Eldritch? How?

“That…I mean, how come I’ve never heard of that.” But then she remembered the Hechtl they found in the underground dungeon last year. How unusual it had seemed to everyone.

She, Aiden, and everyone else assumed the eldritch creature had gotten trapped there. But had it…created the dungeon?

“You haven’t heard of it because the idea of dungeons are already spooky enough,” Tate continued. “Even as dangerous as dungeons are, people still find comfort in the fact that it’s straightforward. You go in there, you fight a few monsters, get the treasure, and get out. But most people don't think a dungeon is a sentient thing. They don’t think it’s the physical representation of being inside the mind of a demon. If they knew that, how many people do you think would be willing to risk it, knowing that they could be trapped there for all of eternity?”

Lexie swallowed. Even just hearing about it gave her the heebie-jeebies. It was hard enough being in Naem’s presence and Hechtl’s presence without feeling overwhelming despair. She couldn’t imagine having to feel that for the rest of her life. 

“Exactly,” he said. “And that’s why the Fae hide that fact from most people.”

“The Fae?” Lexie questioned. “What do they have to do with this?”

“Well they’re the ones who supply us with the dungeons,” he said. “You see, when the Fae came to Earth we had a lot of problems. One, the Guardians obviously. The second thing was that thanks to over-mining, we’d destroyed the environment, caused famine, and now people had to fight for resources. Even after the Guardians were gone, Earth was a planet in decline and reaching a swift end.

The solution as you know was multifaceted. [Saintesses] to heal the Earth. [Heroes] to bring balance. Food relief from other planets and of course, creating pocket dimensions from which we could mine our riches.  Dungeons are created by the Fae on multiple barren planets and then during dungeon season, they’re siphoned through a complex series of transportation to Earth.” They’d reached the train station at this point, and Lexie could hear the train in the distance. “And to create that, they use the Eldritch.”

“Why?”

“Because no one knows how to create a pocket dimension quite like the Eldritch. They control dreams and nightmares. Reality bending is their specialty. And, apparently with dungeons, the younger the better. Maybe because their dreams feel more tethered to their reality, versus older eldritch who are better at separating them. The dungeons represent the Eldritch’s greatest fantasy, nightmarish creatures and pretty gems. The creatures are born with greed and violence and so their dreams reflect that. That’s why they’re used to create dungeons.”

“Woah.” Lexie shook her head as the information swam in her brain. “It’s hard to wrap my head around this, to be honest.”

“I know but it’s true. Why do you think the Eldritch Lord despite being known to facilitate crime has never been accosted or punished on the Fae planet? Why do you think he’s allowed to roam free and Eldritch are given a legitimate status there. Because it’s an even exchange.”

“And why would the Fae go through all that trouble just to give humans dungeons?”

"Well obviously, they get something out of it,” he said smiling. “Either that or they really are our magnanimous overlords like some people think they are.”

“Right.” That wasn’t true. No creature was that magnanimous.

“But most likely, they're getting something out of it.” Tate’s eyes twinkled which told Lexie that he knew precisely what the Fae were getting out of it, but he wanted her to ask.  

She would, but first, there was another pressing question. 

Lexie pursed her lips. “Okay, say all that is true. What does that have to do with two kids raiding a dungeon?”

“It’s not as dangerous as it sounds.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you figure?”

“I figure because we’re not really kids and we’re not raiding the dungeon. I said exploring, Lexie, exploring.”

A smooth whoosh blew their hair back as the train finally came to a stop. Neither Tate nor Lexie looked away from each other as people began boarding. 

“How long is your trip home?” Tate asked.

“Like thirty minutes,” Lexie said automatically, mind still buzzing.

“Perfect.” He grinned. “Then I have thirty minutes to convince you.”

Lexie frowned but slowly nodded. She got her ticket and boarded the train first heading to her favorite window seat at the back of the train. 

A well-dressed older man, walking in front of Tate, decided that out of all the empty seats on the train, he wanted to sit opposite her. The second he did, and gave Lexie a smile, Lexie saw Tate stiffen. He then took a seat beside Lexie and stared at the man.

Tate's face tightened and he wasn’t glaring per se but he was giving the man a hard look. So much so that the man stopped smiling and shifted his gaze to frown apprehensively at Tate.

Tate didn't stop staring and eventually, the man got up and transferred to sit two rows up. Tate still didn't stop giving him sidelong glances out of the corner of his eye.

Lexie leaned in to whisper. “Do you know him?”

“No,” Tate said. “But I think he was trying to get to know you.” 

“Oh.” Lexie turned back to the man who was straight ahead, but he could probably still feel Tate’s burning gaze on the back of his neck.

Tate finally turned to Lexie and said, “You need to be more careful. There’s all kinds of people in this world you know.”

"What did I do?"

Tate simply sighed and said, "Nothing. Just...be careful."

“Is this you saying you’re worried about me?’

He coughed. “Well, it would suck to lose my dungeon partner to a potential creep.”

"You don't know he's a creep. He literally just sat there." Lexie felt bad for the man...if he wasn't actually a creep, that is. She would try to apologize if she saw him again.

"You don't know what I know," was Tate's response. “Okay, now where were we?”

"You were telling me about us going into a demon’s dream…” Lexie didn't want to admit that she was curious about it, but she was.

And Tate probably knew it. "Alright, so this is how it works. A dungeon is an alternate dimension that’s just as real as this one but only lasts for a short time and it can either be destroyed or resolved. What it also is, is that it’s the dreams of the eldritch manifested and in those dreams, are hidden dreams that can be activated by putting together the right set of clues.”

At Lexie’s blank look, he continued, “So, let’s bring back the video game analogy I told you about. You know the concept of hidden levels right? Levels that you can activate by, I don't know, shifting the right stones, or activating a certain sequence?”

“Yeah?"

“Well, dungeons are similar. The thing you have to know about the Fae and the Eldritch is that they really like puzzles, and, riddles, and games, and stories. And even amid all the horrors going on in the dungeon, there’s usually a story going on at the same time, and you'll notice if you know where to look. This story isn’t as pertinent to the main level of the dungeon, but you have to piece it together to get access and win the hidden level.”

“And at that level, you get to fight more monsters?”

“Not always,” he said. “In fact for most of those hidden levels, you don’t have to fight the monsters to unlock the treasure. Sometimes there isn't even a monster. It’s just the dark. And I’m not afraid of the dark.

“Good to know,” she quipped. “Still not explaining why this is a good idea.”

He gave her a look. “Don’t you get it? Inside those hidden dungeons are even more treasures than you find in the dungeon. Sometimes rare treasure, stuff that no one on Earth has ever seen before. Also lots of raw mana rocks. And once you solve the level, you can just walk out with them.”

Lexie frowned doubtfully. “And how come in years no one else has figured that out?’

"Because they don't even know where to look. Because without intimate knowledge of the ‘game’, they don’t know how to play it. And in the highest level of the hidden dungeons, you’ll find that the Guardians and the Eldritch have something in common. They can both give powerful gifts to anyone who manages to pass their puzzles. Some are said to grant wishes. But those high-level dungeons are too risky for me to attempt right now, so I only stick to level four and below where I can get mana stones and gold.”

Ah, so that explains how he can afford mechs. He didn’t have a wealthy sponsor. He was the wealthy sponsor.

“But if your goal is just to be rich, then why even join the circuits in the first place?”

He shook his head. “That’s not part of the story for today. I’ll tell you if and when we become closer...friends.”

“You really don’t know how to say that word normally.”

“I thought I was saying it normally.”

Lexie sighed. “So your idea is that we join dungeon parties?”

“Nope. I tried that. They either sucked, were abusive, hindered my progress, or were too stupid.  Usually all the above. And I can’t risk anyone else finding out what I know. I discover I work better solo.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “So you do this on your own this?”

“Yeah,” he smirked. “But only with already raided, low-level dungeons. That way there’s even less risk that I run into a monster.”

“I thought already-raided dungeons were resolved.”

“Not necessarily,” he shook his head. “There are two ways to get rid of a dungeon. You either destroy it or you wait for it to resolve. Destroying is expensive, and typically requires a team of mages and equipment to get rid of. Much easier to let it resolve on its own. So say, there’s a dungeon that has already been raided and mined and is simply left there waiting to be resolved. What the Heroes Association does is that they seal the portal so that no one should be able to enter and leave it to resolve. But I managed to get my hands on a key to unlock that seal, so I can access these dungeons and get the secret level.”

“How?”

“Well, I just told you about the clues–”

“No not that,” Lexie said. “How did you get your hands on the key?”

Tate sighed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that. Let’s just say I got it from an old friend.”

Lexie stared at him. There were so many weird parts of his story, so many unbelievably convenient things.

"You’re not telling me the whole truth are you? You’re hiding something.” Or multiple things. 

“I’m not…”

“Eighty percent emotional intelligence, remember?” she said. “What’s the real deal? How did you get your hands on the key?”

Tate shifted in his seat, and once again, she saw him wince. He definitely had an injury somewhere that hadn’t completely healed. And he was ignoring it instead, focusing on the story.

“I stole it,” he finally admitted and Lexie’s eyes widened.

“You stole it?”

“It’s fine, they didn’t need it, probably,” he said but his voice didn’t sound convincing. “Look, it's fine. They weren’t good people anyway.”

“That makes it worse!” Lexie hissed. Good people might be willing to forgive him, or maybe just report him to the authorities. Bad people would hunt him down and put a bullet in his skull. How was he so casual about it?

Lexie was panicked for him and more than a little shocked. From what little she’d known of Tate back in Earth 2, he’d been a good kid, straight-laced except for the fact that he’d taken Robbie’s exam on his behalf. Then again, that was probably proof that he was willing to bend the rules to benefit himself. But she’d never thought he would go as far as stealing. 

“I understand what you’re trying to do,” she said carefully. “You’re trying to make money so you don’t have to be in a vulnerable spot anymore. But there are limits and I have a feeling that, with the way you’re going about the things you’re doing, you’re going to end up in a very dangerous place.”

He shrugged carelessly. “I’ve been doing fine so far.”

“If you were doing so fine then you wouldn’t be asking me for help.”

“I’m asking you as a precaution,” he said. “When a dungeon is about to resolve, it gives you a warning and a mechanism kicks in to give you extra time to get out. For mundanes, it can maybe give you an extra five minutes. For rankers, dungeons can stay open closer to fifteen minutes, sometimes thirty.”

That part was true. Lexie recalled Aiden telling her something like that when she’d first arrived in this world. 

“So you want me to go into the dungeon with you so that it doesn’t close on you?"

He shrugged. “Something like that. But you don’t have to go exploring the dungeon with me if you don't want to. Just enter it and stand right by the entrance, to give me extra time to get out. If you see there’s only like thirty seconds left, then get yourself out and leave me behind.”

“This is insane. And why do you think I would agree to any of that?”

‘Because then I would share my loot with you,” he said. “I’m willing to draw up a contract, 70/30. You get thirty percent of mana potions and gems, and if I manage to capture the dungeon core, we can split ownership of that too. I’ll do all the work and you just have to stand by the entrance so it doesn’t close on me. Think of how easy that is.”

“Not happening,” she shook her head, turning away. “It’s too dangerous and I don’t trust you.”

“I’m hurt,” Tate said drily. “Fine, what if I upped your portion to thirty-five percent.”

“It’s still a no. I don’t need that stuff.”

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow. “You’re a C-Rank mage and you’ve done incredible things with your cards. I haven’t met anyone else who does that, which means you probably put a lot of work into it. But think about how much more you’ll be able to accomplish if you had endless pools of mana at your disposal. Think of the fact that you could be able to make cards where the effect lasts longer. Or even maybe forever."

Lexie froze, drawn to the excitement in his eyes. She didn’t want to ask. She wanted to turn him down entirely and keep telling him how crazy he was being, but she couldn't resist asking, wanting to know.

“That won’t be possible,” she said. “To create a card without a time limit that is. The system won't approve it because it’s against the rules.”

The confidence in his eyes didn’t diminish even a little bit. “Once again, you study the rules, but I study the loopholes.”

Lexie fell silent. She turned away from him to consider the earth outside. Stretches of green and brown passed her vision but she saw none of it. Her mind was flying in a lot of different directions. She didn’t want to admit that she was tempted by what Tate was saying. At the same time, she couldn't find herself realistically going along with it. There were just too many dangerous aspects and as much as Tate liked to pretend that it was as easy as sticking by the dungeon entrance, she knew enough about dungeons to know that they could be unpredictable. Even the stable ones. 

“These dungeons are already weakened,” he said as though he could read her mind. “They don’t have the same pull. They’re like half dead.”

“There's a reason people don’t engage in the kind of things you're talking about Tate."

“Because they don’t know what I know. Only the Fae do.”

‘And what do you think the Fae are going to do when you infringe on their territory.”

Tate rolled his eyes. “Lex, we’re only doing this to 10 maybe 50 dungeons a season amidst thousands. I doubt they’ll even notice.”

Still, Lexie was bothered by the thought. She was also bothered by how much he wanted this. “This is really that important to you.”

He nodded and sighed looking past her, out the window. He shifted again in his seat. “I don’t plan on being the same kid I was in that other life. That sucked.”

Lexie felt a wave of pity for him. “I kinda liked that kid.”

“I didn’t,” he said simply and just like that they were silent for the rest of the minutes until the trains shifted to a stop. 

“You have arrived in Hovelton Village.”

Lexie got up. “Come on.”

He raised an eyebrow “You want me to come with you?”

"You still need to convince me, don’t you? Besides, I want to show you something.”

He thought about it then shrugged. "Lucky for you my meeting was canceled.” He rose to his feet and they stepped out together.

As they walked off the platform, Tate surveyed the town curiously, staring at the emptiness and the vast sprawling grass. 

"Interesting place," he commented. 

“You haven't seen the half of it,” she said and started off down the cobbled path. Hovelton was in rare form today. A perfect breeze whistled over the grass, and the suns were orange glows in a pink and blue sky. The sky rumbled like it was going to rain but it had been threatening to rain for the past few days already and it never quite made it.

As they approached their destination, Lexie decided to distract Tate by asking one more question. 

“The mana in your body,” she asked. “What is that from?”

His head snapped to her, his eyes widening. “How did you…”

“I can sense it when I concentrate. I also know that it’s not really in your body, at least not in your pathways.” She cocked her head. “You put mana in your mechs?”

He didn’t look like he wanted to answer, but lucky for him, they’d gotten close enough to the Healing House for Emma, who was at the base of the steps to call out, “Hey, Lexie-bear. Who’s your companion?”

“He’s my…friend.” She said it in the same semi-sarcastic tone that Tate said it in and he smirked.

“Your friend is a boy,” Emma commented. 

Lexie didn’t see how that was relevant. She shrugged. “I guess.”

“Hm…” Emma said, and a thoughtful smile tickled the corner of her lips. Lexie finally got what she was insinuating. Her face flushed. 

“He’s just a friend, Emma,” she said, “who’s a boy. But he’s not like a boyfriend.”

“I didn’t say he was.” If anything, Emma’s smile widened. 

No, but you’re definitely thinking it, Lexie thought.

"This is Tate." She gestured to Tate who was looking a little apprehensively at the building as Emma came down to introduce herself. 

And as they spoke, Lexie allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts again. There was so much to think about. 

Especially since she was pretty sure she’d just figured out her father’s crime.