I held up my hands and took a step back from Lin. “Ok let me start at the begin-”

In the space of time I needed to blink, Lin had reached me and delivered a blow straight into my stomach, bending me in half. I was roughly tossed towards the entrance and was halted as Sten grabbed my arms behind my back. I sucked in air in ragged breaths thankful the toughness talent had probably just saved me from some organ damage.

“Sten, if he tries to cast a spell, break his arms.” Lin said, spitting on the floor. “Keepers are like any other conman, speaking in half truths.”

“Lin, wait, I told you Josh isn’t bad.” Rolada said, putting herself between me and a furious cat girl.

“Just how did you figure this all out anyways.” Lin growled. “I’ve been with him for a few days and he hid all this pretty well.”

The exact same thought was going through my mind. The way Rolada had been looking at me earlier had struck me as odd but I didn’t think anything of it. The lack of forethought had reared its ugly head and now it seemed my fate was sealed in the hands of someone I just met.

“When I was in college I had boyfriends who I thought were kind and caring souls, until I found out they cheated on me. I felt like an idiot and wondered if there was a way for me to know who people really were when I first met them. I was in luck searching the old archives when I found an old manuscript with this talent.” Rolada said. She waved her hand several times as is flipping the pages of a book and afterwards I saw a gold coloured popup.

Unknown source - Greater Insightful eye

Using your insight skill you are able to find hidden details of a creature. Such as its name, it’s class and its abilities. This skill only works on creatures with a lower level than you.

You are also able to discern a rough estimate of a creature's personality and if their deception skill is lower than your insight skill you are able to detect if they are lying.

“It didn’t help that in a college full of scholars and bards, everyone had super high deception, but it’s still a really useful talent.” Rolada said, crossing her arms. She looked up to Lin and challenged her. “So do you believe me now.”

Lin paced the room a few times grabbing fistfuls of her white locks. My minions avoided getting in her way and instead hid behind the boxes in the room. Only Guard 1 stood his ground between the adventurers and the crystal. He was shaking in terror and barely able to hold his weapon, but he was braver than the rest.

“Why was no one watching the door?” I asked Guard 1.

“Quiet you. Do you see Rolada, minions are the sign of an evil keeper.” Lin said, pointing down at Guard 1.

“Ah!” Guard 1 screamed, throwing his arms up in surrender and dropping his gear.

Guard 1 cowered and looked to be on the verge of tears as Lin loomed over him. Thankfully Rolada picked him up and carried him over to me, petting the frightened minion to calm him down.

“Minions are a reflection of the keeper.” Rolada countered. “You are telling me these cute little guys are evil?”

“Yes!” Lin cried, stomping her foot. “He just made them adorable and fuzzy to make you think they aren't evil incarnate.”

I was moved to the side as Sten took a good look at Guard 1 in Rolada’s arms. The minion forgot his fear as he was now obsessed with the dwarf’s great black unruly beard. Sten started to shake and he let me go as he bellowed with laughter.

“Aye lass, look at his little evil arms and ears.” Sten said, picking up Guard 1. “Oh gonna conquer Dastow and become the next tyrant are ye?”

Guard 1 clapped and enthusiastically nodded. He turned to me and gave me a thumbs up and all I could do was drive my palm into my forehead. He definitely wasn’t helping.

“Wow Josh, I thought you were just a failure of a mage. Now I guess you're a failure of an evil keeper too.” Lin said.

“I’m not evil. It all happened so fast and the next thing I knew I was thrust into Ewyernar knowing nothing with just the clothes on my back and the crystal.” I said.

“You make it sound like you're not even from Ewyernar.” Lin scoffed.

“I’m not!” I cried, running my fingers through my hair. “I’m just a normal guy from Earth!

Sten and Lin looked at Rolada and the fox girl’s eyes widened. She stood frozen in place with only her soft furred ears twitching. The sudden eerie stillness to her was so jarring that Sten put down my minion and snapped his fingers in front of her several times.

“Rolada? Are you there?” Sten asked.

She shook her head sending her long red hair everywhere, she grinned and clasped her hands together. “He’s not lying, oh my goddess I am getting the chance to talk to a realm traveller.”

Lin’s hand rested on my shoulder and she drove me onto the floor. “Start talking before I beat it out of you.”

For the next hour I recounted the fateful date that turned my life upside down. My meeting of the odd shadowy god and the first few days that I floundered around trying to figure things out. I explained to them my limited understanding of the crystal and about the antics of my minions.

They then started to question me about Earth, and each time I tried to answer them they had more and more questions. By the time I was done with their barrage of questions I was so parched they relented and let a drone fetch me some water. They still seemed unsure of me but Rolada confirmed I wasn’t lying about anything.

“Explain this car thing again.” Sten said. “It sounds like some contraption out of the workshop of a mad man.”

“How rich is your world?” Lin asked. “Do people really just give away those chocolates?

Rolada sat across from me and tugged on the sleeve of her sweater. Her cheeks were rosy red and she kept trying to make eye contact with me. Her tail fell into her lap and she ran her fingers through it like she was trying to distract herself.

“Can you describe the meeting with the blue demon woman again please?” Rolada asked.

Drone 1 returned with a mug of water and I downed it in one go. I started to roll my shoulders, easing out the tension in my back. So far they seemed more intent on interrogating me which meant I might just see the next sunrise. Rolada was a god sent miracle with her odd talent.

“I barely understand cars myself, I could drive one but never had a head for how they worked. There's millions of them on the road, so they are pretty common.” I said.

“Millions? They must be in every corner of your world then.” Sten said. “It must be a death sentence to walk anywhere on your own.”

“Actually it’s pretty safe, there's a lot of rules with them if you want to be able to drive. And Lin, I lived in a pretty rich country, I myself wasn’t well off but I made enough to have a home and always had food to eat. We have plenty of holidays where you give out chocolate.” I said. When Lin looked shocked I said. “Don’t you guys have festivals with free food?”

“Just apples and stuff. Chocolate is the food of lords, Josh. You're actually serious, people just hand it out like it’s nothing?” Lin asked.

I opened my bag and dug to the bottom of it, taking out the bent and broken box of chocolates. Between stuffing the wool blanket and treasures inside it the chocolates had gotten a little squished but were still still sealed. To prove my point I handed each of them one.

The chocolates vanished quickly and each of them relaxed as the sweet candy melted on their tongues. Rolada was starry eyed as she savoured the small chocolate and I’m pretty sure she might have moaned.

“I guess I can describe her better to you later Rolada, she called herself an Overseer. That’s only if you can keep Lin from beating me senseless.” I said.

“Can you explain this re-fridged-ator again?” Sten asked. “Such a marvel at the disposal of everyone, your world sounds like heaven.”

“Refrigerator. I’m not really sure how it works, people way smarter than me made them. I have a magic one here, if you want to see it.” I said.

Earth wasn’t really a heaven, but I had to admit it seemed a bit safer at home. There weren't roaming hordes of undead, a tall blue demoness that wanted me as her plaything or evil gnomes lurking in the dark. There was so much still to learn I wouldn’t even be able to compare our worlds enough to explain it all.

Lin pulled me up to my feet and brushed off the shoulders of my cloak. She still didn’t look happy but the initial anger was gone, instead replaced with suspicion. She held out a hand and looked at my belt.

“Fine show us the re-fridged-ator, but I’m taking your weapon.” Lin said, her tone leaving no room for bartering.

I fumbled with the straps and failed to get it off me. Lin rolled her eyes and in a few seconds undid the knots she had tied before to get it onto my belt. The dagger vanished into her coat and I led the way to the mess hall. In fact I felt it was time for a little tour.

“So this is our stocked mess hall, we have a lovely kitchen and as you can see right here. A refrigerator.” I said, opening the cold room.

“Josh, we could have stored the meat in here for later. This place is warmer and drier down here too, we wouldn’t have been freezing our butts off.” Lin said. She slugged me in the shoulder and sat down at a table. “Idiot.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t have attacked me the first night if you knew I was a keeper?” I asked.

Lin huffed and crossed her arms refusing to answer. She seemed interested in taking a look around the place and that gave me a bit of hope.

“Want to see our workshop and mine?” I asked the group.

“Why didn’t you say you had a mine? Let me in there, probably a mess of work safety violations and ineffective nonsense.” Sten said, shouldering his pickaxe.

I took them first into the storage room and they looked at the ceiling high stacks of chairs in confusion. Even if they asked I wasn’t even sure how to begin to explain how they came to be. The workshop was the same as before, but a bit cleaner with several work tables around the room. Finally I took them into the mine and noticed some unsuccessful attempts had been made to get the ore.

“Bah, amateurs. The ore veins are exposed at the very least, I could probably have this dug out in a week on my own.” Sten said, running a hand up the wall. “Decent yield here for iron.”

“Let’s not get far ahead here.” Lin said.

“But Lin, like you said it's going to be warmer and safer down here.” Rolada said. She pulled on my cloak and asked in a low voice. “You have traps right?”

I took them back to the main room and had the minions stand next to the levers. I had them first show off the wooden hammer swinging from the ceiling. They weren’t very impressed but then I had Drone 1 pull the lever for the water trap. The sudden surge in water made them panic and jump back but once the initial shock passed they were very interested in how it worked.

“The crystal powers the traps and the cold room. When the lever is pulled the trap door opens into a pit where our troubles get washed away.” I said.

“We are sleeping down here tonight.” Lin said, having made up her mind.

“Minions, could you bring everyone’s things down from the house?” I asked.

The minions took off, most of them glad to be out of Lin’s reach. I then showed off the empty rooms and let them each claim a space for themselves. When the minions returned with their bags I had them take it to their rooms. We also had just a bit of cloth left in storage so I had the minions drape it across the doorways for curtains, giving them some privacy.

We met back in my office and I sat down at the desk waiting to hear their final verdict. Rolada looked pleased and seemed rather friendly towards me. Sten was trying to be stoic but he kept running his thumb along his pickaxe and gazing towards where the mine was. Lin however had on her poker face, an indecipherable stone wall.

“I think Josh is a fine keeper. Someone we can work with to have a safe base of operations while we explore.” Rolada said.

“I feel better knowing we have some defences between us and the undead. Could use some more work, but this place is a start.” Sten said.

Lin broke and she sighed, looking more tired than I had ever seen her before. She put a hand to her head and stayed silent for some time. When she finally spoke her tone was firm.

“Fine, we let him keep doing what he's doing. If I see you trying to kidnap any girls to sacrifice them to whatever weird god you're working for then I’ll be the one to put you down.” Lin said.

Rolada perked up and said. “He’s working with the servants of Ishaka so she would never let him do that. In fact-”

“Rolada…let's just go to bed.” Lin said, cutting her off. “I don’t exactly like the sound of demon worship either.”

“She’s actually…” Rolada’s ears flopped down as Lin glared at her and she made herself scarce retreating to her room.

Sten excused himself and left Lin in the room alone with me. Well except for Guard 1 valiantly trying to step between us. Lin took a step towards him, leaning over and scratching him behind the ears.

Guard 1’s tongue flopped out and he sank to the ground as Lin was petting his head. He opened his arms to her and to my surprise Lin gave him a hug. Once she let go of him she turned to me and flicked me in the nose.

“You're just lucky the minions are cute. Well my offer still stands, you're completely clueless here and if it wasn’t for big sister Lin you would have wound up dead within a week. So we keep watching each other's backs and get stronger together.” Lin said.

“I’ll take that deal, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have had so many life threatening experiences. What fun would it be exploring a world of magic and monsters if there isn't danger around every corner?” I asked, spreading my fingers.

“I’m taking the bed mat for that.” Lin said, waving goodbye. “You're sleeping tonight on your own.”

I sunk down in my seat hearing the wood groan in protest. At Least I had the wool blanket and the cloak. I needed to find a more comfortable bed.

“I’m stealing the blanket too.” Lin shouted down the hallway.

Guard 1 pointed at the minion’s resting room as if to ask if I wanted their beds but I declined. They deserved rest and I would just have to deal with the punishment for tonight. I went to my bedroom and curled up in my new magic cloak grateful for its thick plush fabric.

I started to fall asleep in moments as my body demanded rest after the wild day. I had probably used a week's supply of adrenaline and I foresaw taking it easy the next few days. I was so tired I didn’t even notice the quiet footsteps approaching my door.