**[Aiden]**

The dawn came quicker than anticipated. Aiden could feel the tension in the air. Some muted conversations between the soldiers near him triggered his gossip instincts, and he shifted nearer to hear. “I can’t believe the generals are pushing us this deep into unexplored territory. Those kids are screwed. Most will fail before the army has a chance to use the gap they make.”

The other man responded, “Yeah, I heard the scouts hadn’t even cleared these yet. I am amazed we only met hostiles once. It's never a good sign when things are this quiet.” They might have continued talking, but the stirring of others near him caused the men to move away. Aiden knew more was going on than he realized, and he also wondered where the army was that, according to the whole principle of the draft, should be waiting to use their sacrifice to reclaim territory for the kingdom. According to ancient lore, the whole surface once belonged to humanity. Now they had to fight for every inch. He felt that something deeper was at play. His mother had always told him about the risk of being too curious, yet he had little to lose right now, and the army wouldn't do anything to him right before they reached the dungeon. It would also be a great way to work on his abilities.

To that end, he separated from his team and moved towards a younger female guard. Giving his most innocent smile, he asked her a simple question hidden in a load of patriotic fluff, “Ma’am, I am so proud to be able to serve the kingdom. My team will make it through and keep our dungeon busy for you all to reclaim what is ours! I wish I could give my respects to the greater army. Are they nearby so I can see them before we reach my dungeon?”

She seemed surprised that he was talking, but his naive innocence lulled her into dropping her guard, “No, the army won't come this way for a while, but we all are very thankful for your contribution!”

Aiden had to struggle to hide his smirk, “Pardon my confusion, I am just a poor cook’s son and not sophisticated like a noble, but why are we entering the dungeon now if the army isn't nearby?” Her smile cracked. He failed to hide his grin at the sight, and she stammered a hasty string of nonsense before rushing back into formation near the other soldiers. The grin came out fully as a skill notification reinforced his actions and proved the value of the information he had been fishing for.

Skill increase: Gossip 4-> 5

Bonus achieved: “Sense Veracity”: the ability to feel the truth in the information learned from second-hand sources

A good bonus! One of the things he worried about was whether people were telling him valid information. They might believe it was true, but he had learned the hard way that truth was subjective. This would fix that. It didn’t help much for their current circumstances, and he knew the future was bleak, yet he refused to let himself stagnate in misery. He had never leveled this much in all his twelve years. It made him feel a thrill, and he understood adventurers more now. At home, he had been proud of his progress, not anymore. He realized that his family had been living complacent lives, and it had slowed their leveling. His own parents only had a skill or two over ten and less than a dozen in total. They had never had to struggle after they finished their mandatory service, so their skills had remained consistent. The draft was a waste of lives and inhumane, but those who survived from any rank of dungeon came out ten times stronger from the intensity of the experience. His gut told him he could join the ranks of those who made it through, and he would show everyone who had doubted him that they were wrong. Maybe he would even become an adventurer afterward to destroy the dungeons before any children had to die in them.

These musings helped to motivate him as the group moved onward. He flitted from person to person, gathering information for the future. A future where he was above ground and fixing their society one word at a time. He could never be a noble like Rita, who had the power to change things but chose not to. He would use his god-given abilities and people skills to force people to see these flaws that he had never known existed before being drafted. Nobody was bringing this information to the people who deserved to know that their children's deaths might be pointless or for some mysterious purpose he had yet to discover.

Team after team separated from theirs until it was just them and a few soldiers along with the Sergeant. He had no one left to talk to and returned to his group. He could feel Rita’s hand grab his as they walked. A short while later, they passed a rock splattered with pink paint, and her grip tightened to an uncomfortable degree. They walked on for what seemed like ages until the Sergeant and all but two soldiers paused behind them. The two leading them kept walking, and he followed, feeling the eyes of the men staying behind, gazing through him.

He could tell Horace was struggling too and reached over to the boy to grab his hand as well. At first, he resisted, but they all needed the contact, especially when a fissure appeared ahead. The soldiers leading them blended in perfectly with the sand under their feet, and as the wind picked up, he almost lost sight of them for a second. Sadly, the soldiers keep careful track of them and lead, unfailingly, to the ominous opening in the earth. Thinking it would be just a hole leading to the dungeon, he was surprised to find an ornate door hidden inside the crack. Beautiful artwork of a crowned man looking down upon atrocities as well as a few of him simply laughing adorned the frame of the door. A polished white handle of what looked suspiciously like bone stood stark against the dark background of the door. Their supervisors looked nervous about being so close yet were as intrigued by the door as they were. This gave him the impression that they hadn’t been here before or heard about it.

The Jesting Joy Dungeon, his home for the next few months, looked like any door (if you ignore the art, handle, and location). It made him unsure of what to do next. The scenes depicted gave him a strange sensation deep in the pit of his stomach and a tickle in the recesses of his brain. He could not place why it stood out to him as important, but he filed away the feeling just in case. When he had imagined this moment, the soldiers always just shoved them down a tunnel and barricaded the passage so they couldn’t escape. He rather liked the idea of being forced down. With the door being there, he worried about their ability to take the initiative and walk through independently while gazing at the pictures of mutilated bodies and torture with this beast of a man laughing back at them. It was disturbing. The male soldier near him shared none of his fears and simply waved his drawn sword towards the door and said, “Get on in there, boy. Set a good example for your little lady friend.”

Rita gave the man a glare Aiden was happy to be on the other side of. The other soldier was more polite but equality firm as she said, “there isn’t any use waiting around. Our presence will only agitate it. Leave anything you don’t want to carry with us and go in.” The three of them shared a glance before laying their bags on the sand to compare. They only had two nice bags, and a sack Horace had found at one of the campsites, so they threw the sack aside and filled it with any junk the other bags had accumulated. The wand got strapped to Rita’s thigh for easy access and the swords to their waists. Everything else remained in the bags that he and Rita would carry. Their worldly possessions barely filled two bags, and they would need to survive off them for six months. As the most capable fighter, Horace would be left unhindered by the heavy packs, and Aiden worried about Rita's ability to handle the weight with her subpar strength. However, this was no time for doubts. They all had to contribute, and he was not responsible for her burdens. Taking one last look at the world around him and feeling the sun’s warmth on his face for the last time, he followed behind Horace as they stepped into the unknown.