There is a noticeable change in the volume level as people start to turn their attention towards the cave opening. I see Jaxx talking with a couple of individuals that seem to be preventing him from entering the cave.

“I really don’t care anymore.” I hear Jaxx say with a firm voice. “Maybe this will work, maybe not. I’ll wait my turn if you want. But until someone shows me that this isn’t what I think it is, you’re going to be hard-pressed to make me not go in.”

The two others, whom I don’t recognize, turn to start talking and Jaxx just steps around them. There is a little bolstering with the two getting up next to Jaxx, one with a hand on his upper arm. More something between friends as they see Jaxx’s resolve, then let him go.

At first, it’s only a couple of the older-looking party members. But then the resolve spreads as almost everyone silently walks forward into the unknown.

I can’t say that I’m not drawn to follow as I watch individuals fade away into the darkness. There’s just too much unknown for me to step into that without having anything to defend or protect myself with. I don’t have that kind of blind faith.

The few that are still here, The Officer, hammer in hand while watching the others depart. You can see the thoughts churning in his head by the expression on his face and the movement of the hammer in his hand as he changes and flexes his grip.

None of the elves have gone. I overheard when Reyansh put a stop to it with a comment. Something in elvish, not that I could hear it all anyways.

I move up closer to the entrance. Looking into the darkness I wonder if this could be a way home. Maybe I could let something big one-shot me and then wake up in my room. I know I’m not desperate enough yet to purposely let something like that hit me again.

Getting back to Awaking Farms might be my second-best option for now. Hitching a ride back with someone in this raiding party or maybe Reyansh is still my best bet.

Looking back over to Reyansh, making sure my ride hasn’t left, I see Bof Bol walking towards me. No subtlety there.

“Officer” I greet.

“Doug” He replies with a nod of his head. “What do you see?” He asks.

“Darkness. And you?”

“My eyes can no longer see what isn’t true. What do you see? Step to the edge.” Taking a half step and points with his hammer where to stand, where the texture of the floor changes slightly. “A shape, an outline, anything?”

As we stand there waiting, peering into the darkness and trying to listen for anything that might be there. Away and centered, I start to perceive a plant or something. As I stare, it looks to be “a sunflower.” I utter under my breath, still loud enough for The Officer to hear.

Grunting to himself, I see he’s lost in thought again, flexing his grip on the hammer. “We need to get you geared up. We’ll wait for confirmation and see if they bring back anything we can use. Then if you’re willing, I have a task for you.”

“Do you see it, the sunflower?” I ask. “It can’t really be a sunflower, what is it?”

“There’s nothing there,” he replies. Turning and walking back to the elves. “Don’t take a step forward or into the cave. I have something to discuss with the Elf. We’ll talk after the Raid party returns.”

Maybe 15-20 minutes pass of boredom. At the incoherent sounds of voices and laughter, I look up to see the raiding party returning. As they are coming closer, everyone looks more like they’re coming home from a good party or sports event. Except for Jaxx. As he’s getting closer, it looks like he’s pouting a bit. Something happened, and whatever it was, he’s the one they seem to be laughing about.

“Donations for the newbie!” Someone holding something up over his head yells. Walking over to me, pushing some cloth into my chest for me to grab. I find myself the owner of a slightly used shirt.

I soon find myself with a small pile of assorted items around me, like a resale shop or yard sale of hand-me-down items. “What’s all this for?” I ask as people pass me by. “Recycling” and “Newbie Dungeon” are most of the remarks I hear. Eventually, I come to understand that they were stripping adventurers that they had come across, who didn’t make it. The items, assorted weapons, leathers, trinkets, seem not to be anything that any of them care about.

With some more slaps on the back and “Next time” comments, Jaxx and most of the Raid group are heading out. While the Dwarf and Elves are making their way over to me.

Discussing between themselves, they mostly stop the conversation as they approach me. Bof Bol speaks first. “We understand that you’ll want to be getting back and we’ll take care of that for you or whatever you’d like to do from here. But we would like your help with a matter.”

With a nod of my head, he continues. “Me and Reyansh here are thinking that this might be more than just a Delusion Chamber for Newbie training and would like your eyes on the ground report.”

I’ve got a pretty good guess at what they want me to do but I start looking over to Reyansh for some clarification.

“Our eyes are not fooled by the Apparitions,” Reyansh explains. “Being that our races and experiences see beyond them and…” I stop listening and start looking to the other elves for help with understanding.

Daylor and other elves are there, but they’re not even offering any suggestions. Scanning, I see Lilly and her daughter Jenn behind her, standing in a way that my view of them is being blocked by other elves. Looking at the two of them, the elves standing between us take a side step so we can clearly see each other. They’re both avoiding my gaze after Lilly held mine for a moment, then dropped her eyes looking away. Ya, you know what you did. I’d put my children first too, but the relationship limits between us are clear.

Jenn doesn’t even look up or realize that everyone's looking at her until she notices the silence. “Umm… Deception… Trickery… Illusion… Illusion Dungeon?” Jenn looks up at me. “Images are made that look real. Elves, Dwarves, mostly ignore what isn’t true, real. Adventures are fooled less and less as they grow. That’s why they are asking you.”

“That’s why they took the children?” I ask Bof Bol and Reyansh as their eyes open a bit in realization or surprised understanding?

“Is that why there’s those Pig things back in the corner?” I ask. “To clean up the bones and the bodies?”

There is a hushed silence as everyone is looking back at the pen in the corner or just has a look of shock. It’s at this moment that I realize a significant difference between these people and me. The ground is not cursed. These people don’t know evil. I’ll give them that hunting, combat, fighting with swords, daggers, bows, adventuring, is not something I’ve been exposed to or want to stomach. This isn’t even a B-rated horror movie. Just thinking for a moment of the movies I’ve seen. World history and why we’ve started wars. Slaughtering animals and forestry for profit. The evils of Politicians, Dictators, World leaders. I consider myself a good man, trying to have good values. And here you can just kill things to somehow just grow into some kind of powerhouse? Hell, I don’t need a sword, I need explosives. The atrocities and mayhem flash across my mind as I stand here blinking coming back to the moment. These people don’t know evil, they didn’t even consider getting rid of the bodies like that.

Coming back to myself, I ask, “Tell me what you're asking in a way that I can understand.”

The Officer looks at me, ponders, “Go into the Illusion. Make your way to the end. Come back and tell me what you saw. Somewhere the Illusion is powered because there’s no mage here casting. Look for something with a soft glow, a wall, a rock. Probably behind a false wall or hidden because the Raid party didn’t come back with it. Maybe didn’t care either way and left it.”

“Are you offering anything for doing this?” I ask and he gives out a little grunt. “Something the ‘only I’ and children seem to be capable of?”

“Now you want armor and weapons you can’t use!” He half yells already getting irritated.

“I want to go home now. I’m done here. I have questions. I’ll have more questions. You don’t have to answer them, just point me towards somebody that will. Maybe you know a good dwarven drink we can have.”

Narrowing his eyes at me and getting a shitty grin. “Done!” Rayansh says before The Officer can respond.

“You can pick out something if you like, but you’re probably not going to need it.” Rayansh continues, pointing at my yard sale of items. There’s nothing there so if you’re hurt, it’s only because you believe your hurt.”

There’s a light leather vest with some straps to hold it at my waist that I put on. A dagger with a sheath that straps above my ankle. Wishing I had Grut’s sword, one of the elves hands me one of the copies with the corresponding ring.

As I start to enter, a thought occurs and I ask “By myself?”

“It should adapt as it is able, to whoever is entering. It’s for training, so you should be alright and it will be easier the fewer people that go.” Raynash answers.

Turning to face and square myself up with the entrance. A calming breath, setting my resolve, sword in hand, I start taking slow steps forward peering into the darkness.

Maybe about ten steps in, I pause. The floor becomes green, like grass. The ceiling changes colors to a sky blue with random clouds. And growing out in the middle of the floor is a bright yellow sunflower. Why a sunflower and how would it know, I think to myself.

“Am I supposed to harvest this or what?” I say to no one but myself. Looking around to see if anything else is there or going to jump out at me.

I suddenly duck and jerk my head to look up. Then down, to look around my feet. But there’s nothing there. Better safe than sorry.

Stalking my prey, I try to casually and quietly walk around behind it. While keeping a watch for anything else. Coming up behind it, I slowly harvest it the way Ava taught me. Cradling the flower in my off-hand, it has the weight and feel of a sunflower, right before it fades along with the rest of the plant.

Standing there perplexed, I’m thinking Illusion Dungeon, but wonder why it felt so real. Now also trying to remember if it smelled like a flower because I don’t remember that.

To my right, I notice a patch of six sunflowers has appeared. Looking around, up and down, I don’t see anything else. Okay, I’m thinking progression, training dungeon. Turning and walking around in the opposite rotation to get behind them, one of the flowers turns towards me and I freeze. Memories of being peppered by the sunflowers Ava had, holds me as motionless as I can stand.

For what feels like an agonizing half minute, this sunflower, from just past my arms reach, is staring me down. I take a cautious breath as it turns back with the others. Proceeding with more care, I harvest three of the sunflowers before one slips out of my hand, dropping to the floor. As one, the other three turn to face me. Knowing that I dropped one, before it ever hit the floor, I wound up for a giant panicked wild swing with the sword and cut the rest down just as they faced me. I smile to myself knowing they didn’t get me, as I watch them fade away like the one before.

I realize I’ve lost my bearing. I’m not sure which way is in or out as a field of sunflowers appears around me. Looking at the depths of the rows of sunflowers, I just close my eyes thinking that this sucks.

Opening my eyes, trying to steel myself to work through this, the field is gone. It’s now twilight with twinkling stars above. “Fight!” I hear as I’m trying to remember if I smelled any sunflowers or not.

“Fight!” the voice says again as I square up with a goblin that doesn’t look quite correct.

It comes at me with a broad telegraphing swings that show exactly what its intent is. After a few back and forth melee, it literally runs itself forward onto the sword I’m pointing at it.

Two goblins appear next. Then three after that. I encounter the set of three goblins twice more because the first two times they were able to win the encounter. They got my legs the first time, then my head the second, because I was trying to protect my legs.

What do you know, but a wolf is out next. Expecting it to jump at me, I just circle and wait until it does. With the sword, I cut off its back leg while it’s in the air. Putting it out of its misery when it can’t properly move to face me.

I find myself at a cavernous wall and nothing has happened since the wolf. I can certainly see the appeal in something like this. It’s a bit clunky, and I much prefer this without the blood and gore.

Inspecting the walls. Looking around at the floor and what I can see of the ceiling, I don’t notice anything. There isn’t anywhere that I can see to sit down, so I just sit on the cave floor. Bof Bol and Rayansh think that there’s something here. Something here that they and the Raid Party can’t see. If the children are actually involved, something that they can see. What could the children see? Is it just seeing the Illusion? A childlike faith to believe, like in Santa Claus?

And I see it. A light blueish spot on the wall, nearly light purple. Like an LED behind glass or ice. Thick finger width lines run from it like someone drew a simple circuit board with a crayon. Following the lines to either side, there is a six-foot slab of stone. Smooth surface. Enough that I could lay down on it. Standing up and moving closer, I see the ring. Looking over to the other slab, expecting the sword, I see it there. Following the lines back to the spot on the wall, they continue on and within a few feet I see another two slabs, but these are made or carved into the wall itself.

On these two slabs in the wall, a ring is on one. A sword on the other. I’m guessing that these are the originals. Reasoning to myself, since there were all the other copies, these are probably supposed to be taken. I don’t trust it enough to touch. I poke at the side of the slab with my sword, then touch the top of the slab with it. I then push the ring towards me with the back of the blade until it falls off the side and I catch it with my free hand.

Feeling a little braver, I do the same thing with the other slab and pull that sword towards me until I catch it. Putting on my new ring, the opposite hand of the one I already have. Sword in each hand, I head back. There’s only one way to go. Only after I’m walking do I realize how stupid and risky it was to just put the ring on.

I know I’m headed in the right direction when I can hear The Officer expressing his opinion, echoing off the walls of the cavern.

“Same Difference! Stealing My Work!” I can see the dwarf holding his hammer out, pointing it like an accusing finger. The head of the hammer passing back and forth through a 3-D image of a man I’ve not seen before. Rayansh is next to him, but the other elves are near the exit.

“I’ve told you, I purchased the ring. You would think you would check Your records for any inaccuracies before making accusations based on opinion. It’s not like You don’t look to see how another rune ‘like yours’ is inscribed and I haven’t even done that!”

“I’ve got the ‘Proof’, right here!” Bof Bol looks a little confused for a second but then points at Rayansh who’s holding up a handful of rings that he has just pulled out of the bag. “Taken My Beautiful Runes and put them in Bone!.”

“You attacked my home. You destroyed property. You…” The image looking at me pauses.

The Officer pointing his hammer at me. “There’s your Proof! More Proof! Bring that Here!”

“Show Him! Show Him!” The Officer shifting back and forth on his feet as his temper rises.

“Well, you certainly are the unique one…” The image looking me in the eyes.

“See, Another! You Only had One Ring when you left!” Rayansh and I make eye contact with the understanding that Bof Bol seems to have forgotten about the sword and only cares about his ring.

“Another?” The image asks, but no one seemed to notice.