unexpected visitor

As Zain returned to the guild, he thought about what had just happened. He had fulfilled his duty and then the others just ran, leaving him behind. He lost all of the supplies to help with the dungeon crawl to destroy the core and subside the flood for good saving many lives of nearby villages with defenses not so great. The ensuing carnage of the flood spreading was what warranted the urgency and not calling in an official flood suppression squad and dungeon slaying task force.

The dungeon slaying task forces were very rare to see. They were a group of elite adventurers who usually formed in groups of five to eight and their strength was on par with approximately a dragon per member. It was said you had to slay a dragon solo to even be thought of for the position. They specialized in, as their name implies, slaying a dungeon. To slay a dungeon, you must make it to the bottom floor beating the boss of each level and once the last boss is defeated, the core room will appear sometimes. These task forces would continue to dive into a dungeon's depths and repeat the process until the core room appeared and break the core.

The walk Zain had taken while thinking about how many lives he saved was halted as he came to the city and saw the guild draping its black banners. This was significant as it meant someone had been presumed dead upon a quest, which was more than the guild had originally thought. But on the inside of the black banners were purple signifying that people of high standing of the guild were present. Zain decided to ignore the black banners as he went in to report. The halls were extremely gloomy when he opened the door to enter and then the mood lightened, and the guild attendants rushed outside coming back moments later with the black banners.

Zain cautiously approached the receptionist desk and waited to be addressed as everyone was in shock at the moment. "How may I help you?" the receptionist asked with a shaking voice as if seeing a ghost. "I'd like to report the completion of my mission past what was expected." Zain calmly said with a gentle report. "Ah yes and how would you like this to go?" the receptionist asked, still shaken up. "Well, I have some of the bigger monster parts with me, but the flood is gone for now, and the dungeon slaying needs to begin as soon as possible for the flood to not respawn." Zain was still calm yet affirmative with this. 

Just as Zain had finished speaking, "MY BABY IS ALIVE" echoed throughout the whole guild as a figure Zain knew well bolted down the stairs bypassing the guild master and another guild official and some of the royal knights that were apparently acting as an escort. It was his mother and he smirked thinking only she would make this much of a scene. Behind her rushing to him with relief on their faces were his father and uncle Damascus who were jumping the railing of the stairs not heeding to the glares they were receiving.

Zain's mother reached him first embracing him as if she wasn't going to let go as his father and Uncle Damascus rushed and joined in, essentially huddling around him. "Mom, Dad, and even you Uncle Damascus what are you guys doing here?" Zain inquired while trying to contain his excitement. "Well, we were told there was a flood nearby. When we arrived, we were told that they had sent out a team of four to scout out the dungeon with the one who encountered the flood the first time leading it and they had previously defeated a presumed rank A wolf like monster while escaping. After being informed of this we were interrupted by three rank B adventurers who were shaking and calling for help as a Fenrir had appeared. They stated that they bolted and then dropped you by name as being left in the middle of the flood. Everyone was worried you had died out there and we were preparing to go find your body. The dungeon slaying force assigned to this task is set to arrive tomorrow." His mother explained though tears streaming.

"I'm alive as you can see Mom, the flood is mostly in ashes, and I came to report we needed a new dungeon slaying force if the ones from before weren't up for the task." Zain spoke reassuringly as the three people he had to raise him kept crying. "You do remember that you all taught me to keep the risks I take to a minimum and not too outlandish. I just had to wipe out a flood to escape, I ran out of supplies that I took. I wasn't about to run into a dungeon headfirst knowing that." Zain finished speaking as both the guild master and the other official approached seeing the Royal knights, he recognized one of them but kept that to himself for now. "Do you mind showing us where this flood was to determine the extent and danger level of this dungeon?" Inquired the guild official whom Zain did not recognize with a slightly impatient smile. "I would be glad to when these three are done sir." Zain said still stuck as everyone noticed what he was saying and released him. "I will lead the way if you do not mind sir, the woods can be a little tricky at night." Zain spoke as formally as his knowledge allowed him as etiquette was never taught too harshly in school or at home. "That would be fine Mr. Zain. I only call you that as your father is already known as Mr. Zellars." The guild official spoke in a refined way as if he was from something that was beyond most people's knowledge.

And with that the small group of six departed following directly behind Zain as he led the way to where he had just incinerated the flood hours before.