Meebur’s plan was to take Frey and I to our first ever dungeon. One not too far from the city of Artemis, but still the perfect location to immerse ourselves in some of the most intense adventuring a tamer and monster could experience. If dangerous dungeoneering didn’t awaken my memories or Frey’s powers, nothing would.
Astrid would be accompanying us as well, so that I could continue to communicate as clearly as possible. She rolled her eyes at the request, but didn’t say no. Going to a dungeon with two guild leaders would make things pretty safe, but Frey was as nervous as could be. The other recruits were very encouraging though. Jewel and Cherry kept him motivated, Lucus tried to hide his jealousy at getting to go on an adventure with the guild leader, and Hodi helped by not being rude for at least an hour. Which was a big deal for him.
Before heading out to the dungeon, Meebur, Astrid, Frey and I stopped in at the Artemis Guild shop. The small shop was within the walls of the guild and only a few steps from the entrance building where Violet greeted guests and members alike. The shop was run by an older woman named Nanna who, as I would find out, was also a masterful tamer. Apparently, she was one of the longest serving members of the guild. No one quite knew how old she actually was.
“Meebur! About time you showed up. It’s been a madhouse here! I’ve been complaining to Gregory about our stock of escape buttons for weeks.” Nanna was out of breath and spoke quickly, as though she was frantically working a long shift. However, when we walked in she was lounging in the comfiest looking chair I had ever seen. “I’ve been soooo stressed trying to maintain our stock.” She said in between yawns.
“We’re heading to a dungeon today, so I’ll see if I can’t find you something to put on the shelves.” Meebur said with his signature smile.
“Well, if you say so. Still, I might have to charge an extra fee for our low stock…” Nanna said. She had grey hair that was done up in a very intricate updo, with pins and barrettes keeping it all in place. These were so ornate, I imagined there was enough gold and jewels in her hair to buy everything in the guild shop twice over.
Despite Nanna describing their lack of supply, the shop seemed full to the brim. There were shelves of potions, weapons, equipment, and magic items I had read about in classes with Frey. Baskets of what looked like cookies were actually an item called “fullfeed” which could fill a stomach with a single bite, and next to that were canteens, portable nests, and ingredients to create permanent nests. I even saw newberries in a few sealed jars. Seeing them made me nostalgic for those first moments I spent with Meebur back in his cottage.
Well, what used to be a cottage…
From my tamer’s shoulders, I watched as Frey considered a few daggers, but once he noticed me looking he put them away and blushed.
“I wouldn’t know what to do with them,” he said to me. But what I was really noticing was how he was doing everything he could to avoid looking at the nests. They clearly reminded him of his inability to create his own hatchling. The other recruits who had been given the mark had all visited the shop several times for basic supplies. They would be spending the next several days taking care of their first hatchlings.
Another reason it’s good for Frey to get out. Watching them care for their new monsters would only make him feel worse, I’m sure.
Meebur and Astrid purchased a few basic necessities but nothing too extravagant. They clearly weren’t concerned about the dungeon we were heading to.
Once everyone had their own canteens and bags of fullfeed, we waved goodbye to Nanna and left the guild shop. Just outside, the scent of sweat hit me immediately as we passed a group of tamers who were exercising with their monsters. There were half a dozen massive individuals, and just as many monsters of various types. Some of the tamers almost rivaled the size of my own. Almost.
At the head of the group was a particularly muscular man with long, unruly, golden hair. With his mane of hair and intense aura, he immediately reminded me of a lion. If a lion had taken up bodybuilding and wore weighted arm and legbands made of solid iron. He was leading the group exercise and had his back turned to us.
“Afternoon, Braum!” Meebur yelled out. The lion-looking-man stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to look at us. Once he saw Meebur, I swear I could see hearts in his eyes.
“Leader Meebur! I didn’t know you were here. We were just, as always, following your example. Keeping ourselves trained and strong so our monsters and the people can depend on us. Show the leader our progress!” Braum yelled out and all of the tamers and their monsters flexed in front of Meebur. It made Frey blush, Astrid roll her eyes, and Meebur explode with pride, complimenting each of them individually. When he got to Braum and went to shake his hand, it seemed like the huge lion-looking man would faint from happiness.
Though not how I was expecting to get a new memory, seeing Braum gush over Meebur made me recall a term from my past life.
Is this the definition of a fanboy?
“You don’t know the half of it,” Astrid said, and we pulled Meebur away from the group of bodybuilding tamers and monsters.
There were a few other tamers who stopped us on our very brief walk to the entrance building. Meebur was clearly a beloved guild leader, and when he was here everyone soaked up the time they could spend with him. They asked him questions, showed off their training, and listened to every word he said.
After what felt like an hour chatting with Artemis tamers, we finally entered the entrance building. Violet was waiting for us with a stack of papers by the bar. Meebur, Astrid and Frey had to sign an “adventuring form” with Violet. I asked Astrid what it was, and she explained that any group of tamers heading to a dungeon needed to inform their guild. They wrote down who was going on the quest, what they were bringing with them, and their expected return date. It was vital to take note of this, as in the case of an emergency, a guild clerk like Violet would be responsible for lending aid or sending out a rescue party.
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“Not that anyone expects a party with two guild leaders to have any trouble,” Frey said, laughing through his nervousness. “Besides, if someone like Meebur runs into trouble, no one in the entire country would be able to help.”
“Don’t inflate his ego too much,” Violet and Astrid said at the same time. They both giggled, clearly on the same wavelength.
Overall, it was nice to get a sense for how a normal adventure worked for a party of tamers. We each had bags of supplies from the guild shop, our adventuring forms signed with Violet, and once Meebur flung his giant spear across his back, I knew we were ready to go.
My first dungeon adventure is really happening! I thought with excitement.
“My first dungeon adventure is really happening…” Frey said with apprehension.
We left the Artemis Guild and made our way to the front gate of the city with a strong mix of emotions. Luckily, Meebur was excited enough for all of us!
After flashing our signed adventuring forms to the city guards who were on duty, we moved beyond the outer walls of Artemis. These guards seemed much calmer and more efficient than the first guard that Frey and I met. Meebur informed them that it had been Leif who snuck into the city to challenge him again. Once they heard her name, they all breathed a sigh of relief. She clearly had a bit of a reputation for sneaking into Artemis to challenge Meebur.
“That vagabond elf would do better to simply go through the proper channels to join a guild in our country, instead of rushing at you like she does.” One guard in particular said to us after Meebur explained the origins of the recent tree vs. giant snake encounter.
Once outside the city limits, we hiked along Ratatosk’s Highway, the road that connected Artemis with many places in Olympia, such as Styx, the city of rivers. The guild leader from that city was one of the ones who didn’t attend Meebur’s meeting, but that he had met with to discuss me beforehand. “Seer of Styx” was a special title given to leaders from that city, the first to have it being the person who made the prophecy about the deity monster's return. A part of me wanted to go in that direction to also meet them and learn more about the Prophecy of Hoardsholt, but we had our own mission. We would be taking a detour halfway along the road towards the Dungeon of Pale Neck. Apparently, this dungeon was the white tower that Frey and I had seen in the distance when hiking along the highway.
Meebur showed us a map of the area and gave us all directions, in case we got separated. It was automatically added to the Map in my menu. Frey had his nose deep in the physical map, so Meebur let him hold it. I slithered along next to him confident we couldn’t get lost. When selecting the dungeon as our destination on the Map, a small beacon became visible in the distance when I focused my eyes on it.
This would have been so handy on road trips back home, I thought, memories of my past self getting lost driving something called a car. Though the memory was of a negative experience, I immediately felt happy. I just remembered something!
Astrid turned back to look at me, and gave me a genuinely warm smile. “It looks like this adventure is already paying off.” She said to Meebur, explaining the return of one of my memories. He expressed even more giddiness and excitement than I did.
We passed the same ancient waystation that Meebur and I stopped at before meeting Frey. Back when we journeyed from the forest of death to Artemis, meaning this road connected me with every place I had ever visited in my reborn life. The forest, the waystation, the city of Artemis, and soon my first dungeon.
Before the suns finished setting, Frey prepped a small camp for us to spend the night. It would take another half day of hiking to reach the dungeon, so it was important we got a good night’s rest.
However, the night was quite restless for me.
It didn’t take a deity to notice that we had been followed.
Someone with a lot of passion and intensity was doing a terrible job hiding their presence. It felt like overkill but I activated my
She’s probably looking for another opportunity to challenge him.
I had learned from Meebur that she had battled him nearly a dozen times. And over all of those attempts, she had never gotten even close to beating him. And her chances of winning a battle were even worse now that Meebur had me in his corner.
However, even though she wasn’t a threat to us, I stayed alert. Especially because noticing her exact position didn't seem to calm my nerves. It still felt like someone was watching us. Someone I couldn't sense. Whether it was another traveler on the road, a tamer from our guild, or the masked figure I had seen long ago, I couldn’t tell. And, what was worse, almost the second I acknowledged their presence, it was gone.
Meebur and Astrid sensed it as well, but they seemed even less aware of the potential danger than I was. Perhaps they thought it was only Leif, who was making more noise trying to be quiet in the nearby bushes than most people did just sitting casually.
“What’s going on?” Frey asked, seeing all of us look in the same direction. Leif had stepped on a twig and actually said “Oh no!” out loud.
“It’s nothing,” Meebur said, chuckling and smiling to put Frey at ease, “but I think perhaps that tenacious challenger might be after me again.”
He was talking about Leif, but I don’t know why he brought her up. Even Frey should have been able to hear her. The real threat obviously wasn’t her. She was eager, but wasn’t skilled enough to evade detection from all of us. Certainly not as effectively as whoever else was out there.
“The elf with the tree monster?” Frey asked. “Why would she be following us?
“I wouldn’t worry about it. She has her reasons for wanting my position.” Meebur said, and poked at the fire with a stick. “Don't concern yourself with it now. Only if you take over for me will challenges be your responsibility."
“I guess I’ll never have to worry about that. No one could replace you!” Frey said with a smile, but for once on our first day as a party, Meebur didn’t smile back.
Which made me feel even more uneasy. If Meebur wasn't smiling then he knew Leif wasn't the only one tracking us. But he made no change to our plans. We sat quietly by the fire. Each of the others intended to take turns keeping watch. But even if I hadn't had
I would make certain of it.