“What happened, why is everything black?” questioned Mari into the empty void. The man should have still been standing in front of her, able to respond, but the only thing she could sense at all was this box.

You’ve been drafted into a Dungeon War.

Mari stared at the message floating in the darkness before her. A… dungeon war? Like the one she’d just been through with the serpopards? The one that had…

She clenched a mental fist.

The one that had killed her friend.

A liquid cold washed over her, leaving her alone in the darkness with only her guilt and the taunting blue message. She sat there for a few minutes, floating in the black, forced to confront her strong emotions. They boiled-- the rage, grief, and guilt. Like a pot left on the stove, they welled within her, pressing out with a high pressure, trying to make her explode.

But then Yeshi’s deep voice tentatively cut through the silence, “My lady?”

Mari blinked. [Yeshi?]

“The very same,” he replied as a spear of light entered Mari’s sight. Cracks formed in the darkness and, like glass shattering, the shadows exploded outward, disappearing into the corners of her sight.

Mari sighed. The viewports were back. She looked around. Her mental couch was still there. She plopped into it thankfully, distracting herself from the traumatizing memory for a moment, and surveyed the condition of her dungeon.

The busted wall that had once concealed the red core’s remains was still standing, fully repaired from when the mysterious man had knocked it down. The Research Root was still working on her request for mermaids, and the unicorn was still missing.

Wait… Where’s my car?

The crystalline vehicle that had contained the blue core was simply missing. No matter what vantage point Mari viewed the dungeon from, the vehicle was just… gone.

What the heck!

The confused girl rapidly tried to reassemble her vehicle from memory, since even the blueprints were gone from her list.

Dungeon Marianna Notification

During Gladius’ Dungeon War games, you are unable to leave your base, rebuild, spawn new monsters, or expand the dungeon in any way.

Hey, that’s cheap!

What was she supposed to do? Watch as the Ratman populace did whatever it was Gladius wanted? Mari wasn’t about to lose another one of her friends.

Though, he had implied that she hadn’t lost one of her friends. That Miradeen was still alive, and by following along she would learn where she was being hidden. If she didn’t think the chance of success was worth trying, she could have just taken the blue stone and accepted her death. But no! She rejected that reality. If she could substitute her own, where her friend never died at all, where there was a chance of actual peace, that was worth at least trying.

Well obviously, what she should do now was talk to the Ratman populace and see what they thought about this. She wasn’t going to order them to their deaths, nor was she going to ignore the fact that they would want to know that their queen could be saved.

A cursory glance through her Overseers’ eyes, in their various locations, revealed that the rats seemed dizzy, and were holding their heads or trying to steady themselves. The Dreadnought sat on the floor of the center chamber, dazed and chuckling at nothing. She was still a bit unnerved by the creature, but it had proven to be a strong defense, and Marianna firmly believed that everyone deserved a chance at friendship, no exceptions. Surprising the girl was the unicorn that gracefully stood near the entrance to the dungeon, majestically gazing out into the distance.

Somehow, Fargo--the Overseer slain by the adventurers--had come back to life, and Mari was happy to know that all of her Overseers were present and accounted for. Unfortunately, Tryvig, Kifalin, and Zorel--the Ratmen who’d died during the assault--hadn’t been so lucky. Mari didn’t understand what was different about them. Maybe… since they were denizens, and the Overseers were her creations? That seemed to be a plausible explanation. She put the thought to the side for now, noticing that her citizens had gathered their wits.

[Everyone,] Mari announced ominously, sending the voice out to all of the Rats and her Dreadnought, but leaving the unicorn alone. [Gather up. I have something to talk to you about.]

In the next ten minutes, the creatures had all gathered in front of Mari’s core. The blue light washed over them as it pulsed like a heartbeat, and everyone stood in silence.

That was, until Terash stepped forward through the crowd, his intelligent eyes gleaming as he took in the massive crystal floating before him.

“My lady,” he said fervently, dropping to a knee and bowing his head. “What is it you require of us?”

Wow. Completely unfazed by the recent events that tore us apart and have most of the others still shaken up. That’s our resident genius, I suppose.

[Well, Terash…] Mari began, surveying the crowd before her. Eight rats and a bloody monster. [I’ve received some vague but troubling news…] She waited, watching their faces and trying to read their expressions. But it was tough with the rats most of the time.

“Vague but troubling…” Terash muttered. “That could be any number of things, my lady. I mean no disrespect, but would you indulge me further by clarifying what it is you mean?”

She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see her mental body.

[Yes, well… Um, do you know anything about Dungeon Wars?]