"Something’s Happening in That Dungeon"

The strike came before Tiren could blink. 

Reality stuttered—and the Guild Master was there, close enough to taste steel in the air. Tiren's instincts screamed. He crossed his arms just as the blow connected. 

Crack. 

Agony bloomed in his forearm. Something snapped. The force hurled him backward, skidding across the sand, dust flaring in twin spirals behind him. But he stayed upright, boots carving trenches as he fought to slow his momentum. 

He hadn't even drawn a breath before the Master was upon him again—silent, precise, relentless. A thunderous haymaker crashed toward his skull. 

Tiren twisted. The punch grazed past, heat brushing his cheek. Then—movement. Peripheral flicker. A knee, already rising, already too close. 

He threw both hands forward in desperation. His palms met the Master's leg—solid as stone, unstoppable. His arms quaked. 

Too heavy. I can't hold it— 

He didn't. He flowed with it, letting the force spin him backward. He stumbled several paces away, boots kicking up sand, lungs burning, heart jackhammering in his chest. 

The Guild Master stood still, rolling his shoulder in a lazy arc—like a man loosening a stiff joint, not one who'd just shattered a guard. 

"Ah," he muttered, voice calm, "Now I'm warmed up." 

Tiren stared, sweat stinging his eyes. The gap between them wasn't just speed, or power. 

It was certainty. The Master didn't chase victory. 

it was inevitable. 

The morning air was crisp, the sunlight spilling over the treetops and stretching across the dirt path. Ahead, nestled against the rise of a mountain, the city stirred with quiet life—its silhouette marred by the gaping black mouth of the dungeons 

entrance, so massive in fact, it looked as if the mountain itself had been wounded. Kin's eyes lingered on it. 

"Senen," he said suddenly, "what made you choose to live in the temple?" 

Senen didn't break stride. "I stayed in the city a while," he said. "But when my son grew into a man, and his mother passed… there wasn't anything left to hold me there." 

Sye glanced over, surprised. "That's strange," she said. "The Master used to tell stories about you. But he never once mentioned you had a family." 

Senen chuckled—quiet, a little surprised. "Oh, he talked about me, did he? Huh… well, I never told him. Didn't tell them what I did for work either. If I had, I'd never hear the end of it. My Wife had a soft heart. If I got a paper cut, she'd panic like I'd been run through with a spear." 

Kin laughed. "Yeah, I get it. Mums so scared of me being a raider, but I love it!" 

Both he and Senen turned to Sye, eyebrows raised in silence, their expressions cartoonishly expectant. 

Sye hesitated. But after a breath, her voice softened. 

"My parents died during the Argonian–Molrid war," 

The humour drained from the air. Kin's smile faded. 

"Were they soldiers?" Senen asked, his tone shifting gently. 

"No," Sye said. "We lived in the countryside. I was just a baby. A volley of arrows fell from the sky. I was told… their bodies were found over my cradle. Their backs were full of arrows." 

The silence that followed didn't just settle—it changed the temperature. Even the birds seemed to hush, as if the trees themselves were listening. 

"They died protecting me," she added. 

Sye kept walking. Her voice hadn't cracked—but something behind it had. Soon the city walls rose into view, familiar and tall against the slope of the mountain. 

"Finally made it," Kin said quietly. "Let's go see the Guild Master." 

They now stand at the guild master's door. 

Knock knock. 

No answer. 

Sye gently pushed open the door to the Guild Master's office, peeking her head in. The room was empty. 

"He's not here," she muttered. 

Kin stepped up beside her, swinging the door wider. "Really?" he said, scanning the room himself. The absence was clear—no coat, no boots, not even his sword rested in the usual corner. 

"So where is he, then?" 

A short while later, they stood at the front desk, speaking with the guild administrator. The woman gave a nod toward the open courtyard beyond the arching windows. 

"The training grounds," she said simply. 

Sye and Kin exchanged a look. 

Tiren lay sprawled on his back in the sand, his chest rising and falling with quick, laboured breaths. A healing specialist knelt beside him, bandaging his forearm—his other arm was already wrapped, and clean white cloth hugged his midsection like armour made of gauze. 

A few paces away, the Guild Master sat cross-legged, gazing up at the blue sky, still as stone. 

Footsteps approached. Kin and Sye appeared over the ridge, and just behind them—Senen. 

The Master turned his head. His eyes landed on Senen—and something shifted. A faint smile curved his lips. 

"Senen?" he called out, voice warm. "Is that you?" 

Senen chuckled. "Looks like you haven't lost a step." 

The Master glanced at his own battered knuckles, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Aha, yeah... You, on the other hand, seem to have lost something." 

He lifted a hand and gestured playfully at Senen's bald head, half-covering his mouth to stifle a laugh. 

Senen raised an eyebrow. "Still a child, I see." 

Before the moment could stretch too long, Kin stepped forward, alarm flaring across his face as he caught sight of Tiren. 

"What happened to him?!" 

The Guild Master stood, dust brushing off his legs. "We did some training," he said casually. "He'll be fine after Riyu takes a proper look." 

Then his tone shifted—sharp, commanding. "Tank. Itzu." 

Two figures stepped forward from the training grounds, standing side-by-side before Kin. They dipped their heads in a gesture of respect. 

"I'd like to introduce you to Kin," the Master said. 

Itzu glanced over. "Isn't this the guy we met on the 31st floor?" 

Kin smiled. "Yeah, that was me.". 

Tank, massive and imposing in steel-plated armour, raised a gloved hand and smacked it against his chest with a loud clang. He bowed his head. 

Itzu nodded, interpreting. "Ah—Tank says thanks. For saving us from the dragon." 

Kin's grin widened. "Don't mention it… Wait—does Tank not talk?" 

Itzu tilted his head, hands resting on his belt. "Nope. Born mute. But I understand him. We've been together a long time." 

Kin nodded, impressed. "That's… actually really cool." 

The Guild Master, now brushing sand off his palms, turned back toward Senen. 

"Come to my office," he said, voice shifting to something quieter. "We've got a few things to discuss." 

Senen nodded, and the two men walked off toward the guild hall, side-by-side once again. 

The sun crept across the room like an old memory, illuminating grooves in the wooden floor and weathered lines overexposing ink stains on parchment, catching motes of dust mid-fall like frozen sparks. The office was quiet, but not restful—like a room waiting to be disturbed. 

Senen sat across from the Master, his frame half-sunk into the deep leather of the chair, arms folded. The Guild Master leaned back in his seat, fingers steepled, his brow set with quiet tension. 

"I'm guessing Kin and Sye told you about the dragon," the Master said, his voice low. 

Senen nodded. "They did. That dragon… on the 31st floor?" 

The Master leaned forward slightly. "Not just the dragon. Monsters are showing up on random floors they don't belong on—out of order, displaced." 

Senen's hand rose to his chin, fingers brushing against stubble as he thought. "The same thing crossed my mind when they told me. That floor shouldn't even support something like the dragon. It doesn't make sense." 

"No," the Master said sharply. "It doesn't." 

He opened a lower drawer in his desk with a creak and pulled something out—a sphere no larger than a fist, pulsing with deep violet light. He set it on the desk between them. It shimmered faintly, like a dying star trapped in glass. 

"My raiders found this on the 31st." 

Senen's eyes narrowed. "What is it?" 

"it's an S rank item that can transport you anywhere." 

Senen sat back, visibly thrown. "That's impossible. We've never seen something like this. Not even on the floors lower than the 31st!" 

"Exactly," the Master said, his tone flat. "It shouldn't exist down there." 

There was a long pause between them. Then. 

"And one more thing," the Master added, almost reluctantly. "During the evacuation… when the dragon appeared… many raiders died." 

Senen leaned in slightly. 

"They were all found headless." 

The room fell into a tense silence, broken only by the distant call of a bird beyond the window. Senen stared at the orb, but his thoughts were far from it now. 

The Guild Master pushed back from the desk, pacing a slow circle behind his chair. 

"Legendary items turning up out of nowhere. Monsters breaking floor patterns. Unexplainable behaviour. Headless corpses." 

He stopped; hands clasped behind his back. 

"None of it adds up. But something's happening in that dungeon. Something bigger than any of us." 

Senen looked up at him, the first trace of unease appearing behind his calm. 

"I called you here," the Master said, voice heavy with weight, "because I need help."