With the clusion of their discussion on skills, Shiloh and the girls had their campsite packed up retively quickly. They'd had to get a bigger tent, with all of them refusing to sleep in a tent that Shiloh wasn't in, but it was easily dismantled. While they worked, they discussed each others skills and how they could pliment each other in battle. Suddenly, it seemed like they were going to be a much more effective fighting unit.

  When the camp acked, Elnor directed them across the rolling hills in searore creatures to sy. Shiloh still didn't have a grip on the geography of the region, but he khat Chattery y behind them, in the dire of the mountains on the horizon. They walked for several hours before Elnor held her hand up by her pointed ear, bringing their party to a halt.

  "What is it?" Shiloh whispered from behind her.

  "It's... a dungeorance..." Elnor murmured in an awed voice.

  "No way!" Beck excimed, peering around Elnor to see what she was looking at. There, in the valley, was a rge rock outcropping with a dark hole leading into the earth. "There shouldn't be any dungeorances around here. The closest one is still two days' travel east."

  "That's the one we found Shy in." Ara ented as she and Twil also drew level.

  "Should we go in?" Twil asked the group at rge.

  "I don't think so." Elnor cautioned. "It's a rance, so there's no telling what's waiting inside. Not to mention we're out here specifically to level up befoing into the dungeon."

  "I thought the dungeon was randomized." Shiloh replied. "Does it really matter whitrance you go into?"

  Ara and Elnor looked to Twil, but Beck was the ohat answered him. "The dungeon is randomized, but the entraermihe biome. The duhey found you in was all indoors, right?"

  "It was mostly rge, stone rooms and dark passages."

  "That's what's known as a castle biome. All indoors, a maze of rooms yered with traps and monsters. It's one of the more advaypes of biomes, sihe traps and monsters overwhelm parties that aren't prepared. That being said, there are far more dangerous types of biomes avaible.

  "Any biomes outside force you to tend with the elements, as well as the other threats. Jungle biomes have tribes of pygmies, which are short, brutal and wickedly smart humanoids. They attaything on sight, and their ons are almost always coated in poisons. Volies have fire-based creatures and force you to tend with va, which we are absolutely not equipped for. Tundra biomes are almost entirely survival, testing your ability to endure sub-zero temperatures, ck of food and water, and unbanight and day cycles. None of these are something we would want to enter, let alory to clear."

  "Couldn't we just enter and leave if it's a bad biome?" Shiloh asked.

  "Maybe." Ara responded. "Most of the time the dungeon's first room tains the exit, but there have bees of people being dropped in the middle of a dungeon and having to either find the boss or the exit."

  "That's why you never go into a dungeon if you're not fident in your abilities." Elnor stated. "We should take the information of its location back to the Guild."

  "We should e." Twil's voice shocked the rest of them into silehe Guild will pay far more if we know what biome it is."

  "We could end up dead trying to get that information." Elnor retorted.

  "It's highly uhat the first floor would separate us from the entrawil said, leveling her gaze at Elnor. "Shiloh is a more able healer than most clerics twice his level, even with only one bat heal avaible to him. The rest of us were more than happy to take the dungeon on at our current level before we met him. Ara has leveled up, and you and I are undoubtedly close to reag level six as well. Not to mention, we have an incredible front line now, with the addition of Beck."

  "She's right." Beeonily. "We didn't pn to ehe dungeon, but a short foray into level one is well within our capabilities at this point."

  Elnor looked down at her feet, chewing on the inside of her lip. Shiloh pced a hand softly on her upper arm and she looked at him. "Are they telling the truth?"

  Elnor nodded. "Yes, but... Shiloh, we 't lose you."

  Shiloh leaned in and kissed her briefly. "I'm not going anywhere, Elnor. You have to trust us to keep each other safe. This is an anthill pared to the mountains that we are going to have to climb."

  She sighed and closed her eyes briefly. When they opened again, however, there was steely determination in them.

  "There she is." Shiloh murmured. "I khe fierce warrior was still in there."

  Elnor ruihe effect with a magnifit blush while Ara snickered. She huffed and turned on the spot, leading them into the dungeon without another word. When they reached the entrance, Beck moved to the front of the party and took Elnor's hand. Elnrabbed one of Shiloh's hands with her other, and Twil grabbed his sed hand before iwining her free hand with Ara. They gave each other o look, then Beck stepped into the cave.

  Except, it wasn't a cave. Wheepped forward, the air around her rippled like a pool of water, and she vanished. Elnor followed her in, pulling Shiloh along. Wheered the shimmering air at the mouth of the cave, he found himself in an inky bck void, much like the one he'd found himself in before falling into Aphrodite's bath. The difference here was that he was still holding hands with his party members. Teared o him moments ter, followed by Ara. Ohey were all in, the intangible floor beh their feet shook violently before the darkness began to fade into the first floor of the dungeon.

  "What the fuck?" Was Ara's first eloquent ent when the dungeon resolved itself into an outdoor biome at nighttime. The rest of the girls made sounds of fear and distress, except for Twil.

  "This certainly hasn't been doted before." Twil ented idly.

  "What kind of biome is this?" Elnasped, looking around. "There's ."

  They all turned around and saw, true to her word, that there was no cave exit behind them. Not that Shiloh had expected ohe dungeon had taken the form of his hometown. They were standing at the very train crossing where he was sure he had lost his life. He was stunned into sileaking in the sery of his old world.

  Is this real? He thought, looking for anything that might give it away. Are we oh? Was the dungeorance just a portal?

  Then, he looked up and knew for certain that they were still on Glitnir. There were three moons in the sky.

  "The Guild is going to pay out the ass for this." Beck said softly, examining the train tracks. "These are metal. Steel, I think. They go on forever. There must be thousands of pounds of it."

  Just then, a pair of headlights appeared around the er of a building and turowards them. Shiloh took one look at his friends, decked out in their medieval attire and gripping ons that hadn't been used for turies, and made a decision.

  "Get off the road." He ordered them, taking trol of the situation. To their credit, they didn't question him on his sudden assertiveness. Reizing the asphalt beh their feet as the road iion, they all hurried off to the side as the car accelerated in their dire. Elnor raised her bow, but Shiloh put a hand on her arm and pushed it down.

  "Don't do anything." He hissed to the rest of them. "Don't say anything unless you absolutely have to. If we're lucky, they'll just pass us by."

  "What is that thing?" Ara asked, looking like she'd rather charge it down than stand there as it approached.

  "I will expin this ter. Just don't do anything until we get somewhere safe and private." Shiloh respoersely. The car was almost upon them.

  As it passed them, it slowed to a creeping pad the windows rolled down, revealing a young man, perhaps not even an adult yet, rec them on his cell phone. He waved, and Shiloh and his girls waved back.

  "What's going on?" The man called out.

  "Not much, what's up with you?" Shiloh responded, hoping he wasn't going to be too nosy.

  "No, man, like, why are you all dressed like that?"

  "Oh, we're rping." Shiloh said, earning an appreciative whistle from the guy.

  "hose outfits look better than most of the shit you see at s!" He gave them a thumbs up.

  "Thanks!" Shiloh let out a small sigh of relief. What were the odds, in his small town, of the first person to see them even knowing ing was, let alone having attended a and not making a big deal out of the ons they carried?

  "Take it easy!" The guy said, then crossed the train tracks and sped away.

  "There erson inside..." Elnor breathed. "What kind of a wagon was that?"

  "Not now." Shiloh said, thinking quickly about what he could do. Are the people in here recreated from my memories? I certainly don't remember that guy. Is my apartment still here? Is there another me living there?

  "What's rping?" Beck asked.

  "Not. Now." Shiloh muttered, fusion and ay filling him in equal measure. A finger looped through his colr and pulled his head down until he was looking into Twil's eyes.

  "My Shiloh." She whispered. "What should we do?"

  He stared into her eyes, full of love and , and finally made up his mind. "Follow me. Don't talk to anyone if you avoid it, do not attaything unless I tell you to."

  "Are we in danger?" Ara's voice held more trepidation than he had ever heard from his fearless Berserker lover, and he realized he was sg them. He was also probably overreag, but this euation shook him to his core.

  "No. I don't know. I don't think so." He said, f himself to calm down.

  "You know this pce, though, don't you?" Elnor touched his arm the same way he had touched hers earlier.

  "Yes. Wele to Earth."

  ***

  The walk to his apartment from the train tracks was both the lo and the shortest it had ever taken him to do so. The lo because his nerves were fried and he was certain something terrible was about to happen, the shortest because he wasn't even able to e up with a pn of what to do if there was another Shiloh here. By the time they reached his apartment building, he was on the verge of hyperventiting.

  He punched in the code to get into the lobby, and it blessedly worked. The light on the number pad turned green, and there was a meical buzzing as the electric lock was retracted. He swung the gss door open and ushered his lovers inside, begging them to stay quite. He led them up three flights of stairs and walked down the hallway until he reached 314.

  The same Princess Bride doormat with the quote, "Have fun st the castle!" and a likeness of Miracle Max and his wife still y in front of his door. He bent down and slid the mat aside, revealing his spare key. Breathing deeply, he retrieved it and pced it in the lock.

  "Stay here for a moment." He whispered to the others. "I o make sure it's clear."

  Beck immediately stepped forward. "If it o be cleared, I o go first."

  "Not that kind of clear." Shiloh responded quickly. "There aren't any enemies in here."

  "What do you think is in there?"

  "Hopefully nothing." Shiloh said, motioning for Beck to stand back. She took a step back, but asked another question.

  "What are you hoping isn't in there?"

  "Me." Shiloh replied shortly before unlog the door and slipping into the darkness of his old apartment.

  He khe yout by heart, and moved across the living room which the front door dumped you into. He crept around the couch, cheg it briefly for his own sleeping form, but found it to be empty. With the television off, it was unlikely he'd fallen asleep out here, but not unheard of.

  He moved to the door of the only bedroom, which was slightly ajar. He slowly sneaked closer and closer until he was able to pce his hand on the door aly, carefully, push it open just a little bit more. The unusually bright moonlight from the triple moons of Glitnir gave him enough light to see that the bed was empty.

  He breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly sed the rest of the apartment, making absolutely sure it was empty before ushering his panions inside. Ohe door was locked again, he flipped the lights on and earned a chorus of hisses as it blinded his lovers, each of whom had drawn their ons and started sing for threats.

  "It's okay! It's okay!" Shiloh said, holding his hands up and trying to calm them down. "I just turned a light on, look." He moved back to the entry and, when they were all watg, flipped the light off and ba again.

  "How does it do that?" Twil asked, intrigued. "Does the switch turn the mana into a light? How does it maintain a flow with you after you let go of it?"

  "It's not mana, it's elec-" Shiloh cut himself off and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You know what, there's a lot to cover. Let's sit down and I tell you all what you o know."

  He motiohem towards the couch, which was only big enough for Ara, Bed Twil to sit on. Shiloh retrieved two chairs from the table iiny dining area adjoining the kit and brought them iving oo Elnor and sitting iher.

  "So..." Ara said, ohey were all seated. "This is the world you came from?"

  "Yes. No. I think it's some kind of a re-creation that the dungeon made for us." Shiloh replied, pointing upwards. "You saw the moons in the sky?" They all nodded. "Earth only has one moon, and it's a hell of a lot smaller than Glitnir's."

  "Well, at least we know we are still on our own world." Elnhed. "Why would the dungeon make a biome specifically tailored to one person, though?"

  "I don't know." Shiloh rubbed his eyes again. "I don't know what's going on here, but I do know a lot of things about this world that you all o hear before we try to find our way out. Firstly, there is no magic here."

  "This is Glitnir, though. h." Twil reminded him.

  "Yes, it is Glitnir, but the man we saw earlier, the one irange wagon, if you told him you do magic, he would think you're insane, a liar, or worse."

  "Then he's an idiot." Beorted. "Who wouldn't believe in magic?"

  "That's what I'm trying to tell you." Shiloh said impatiently. "The people ihis dungeon biome are based on my world, and on my world, there was no magic. You'll cause a riot if you go out there and start throwing ice spikes or freezing time or whatever. So, unless I say otherwise, we o refrain from using any kind of magic at all. Especially our iories."

  "Iories aren't magic!" Ara objected. "I 't use magic, but I still use an iory."

  "People here don't have iories. If you start making things appear out of thin air or disappear before their eyes, it will cause a panic. We o pretend to be entirely mundane if we want to blend in here. Speaking of which, I'm going to o go out and buy all of you some proper clothes." Shiloh stood as he spoke ao the kit. He opehe top cupboard above his microwave and reached right into the bad pulled out an old coffee . He ope up and pulled out all the cash he had saved inside of it, ting it quickly.

  "What is that?" Elnor had followed him into the kit, and the other three were all looking over the back of the couch.

  "It's money." Shiloh responded. He had always been frugal oh, and now he was gd that he had been prepared for anything. Well, anything beside getting hit by a train, apparently. The wad of cash turned out to be just shy of 1,800. He'd been saving this for three years, thinking he might go on a vacation when he had enough to still have a egg whe back.

  "Strange." Elnor responded, iing the bills.

  Shiloh returhe cash to the coffee and put it back before leading Elnor back to the living room, where he saw Beck's tail draped over the arm of the couch. He groaned.

  "What is it?" Ara asked, fiddling with an Xbox troller.

  "There are only humans here." Shiloh said, sitting back down. "There are no elves or halflings or foxgirls. Just humans."

  "I pass for human." Twil informed him helpfully.