Chapter 4

As we entered the dining hall, the eyes of every person in the room were on us, which was something I wasn’t used to. There had to be at least fifty people in the room and there was no telling how many more were out in the dungeon, watching the proceedings via their bracer. The room looked to be about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide. The ceiling looked to be twenty feet tall, as tall as Brot’k’s store, though there were much larger chandeliers illuminating the room. The walls had no windows, but there were amazing murals, depicting various scenes from Norse mythology. Most depicted various eddas and events that featured Tyr in some manner, whether as a participant or bystander. We slowly made our way to the other end of the room, where Tyr was waiting for us, upon a slightly raised platform. The platform looked to be about seven feet long and four feet wide, though it looked to be only a foot and a half high. This would ensure that anyone standing at the podium, who was not Tyr, could be seen by the people in the hall from any location in the room. A throne, ornate in nature, sat in the very center of the platform, with a small podium to the left of it. I was nervous as we approached and I kept my head forward, while we made our way to where Tyr was waiting. I made sure to keep my face as neutral as possible, even though my stomach was doing cartwheels, but now was not a time that I should show weakness. I could feel the stares of the various members as we made our way forward and that only made to increase unease.

We arrived at the platform where Tyr’s seat stood and the sensation of hundreds of eyes on me never wavered. Instead, it felt like daggers were being pointed at my back. It was a very unsettling situation, but I didn’t let the feelings faze me, as I turned to look upon everyone in the hall. I felt Amenthia release her hold on my arm as she made her way to stand at one side of the chair. It took me about a minute, before realizing where I needed to be, and I hurried over to stand on the other side of the chair. A few races other than humans were in the room, seated in various sections of the hall. Elves, dwarves, and some races I had not seen before, as well as a spattering of ones that looked to be half human, as well. While I looked forward to learning more about them, I could see a mixture of emotions playing on the faces of the people in the room. Curiosity, boredom, irritation, elation and some downright hostility. Tyr, who had been sitting in his chair until we had taken our places on either side of his chair, stood and made his way to the podium.

“Good morning, one and all,” Tyr began. “Today is an auspicious day for us all, for today we have gained a new ally within our Pact house, one that I hope will bring us much acclaim. Unfortunately, he had suffered an accident prior to his testing and has no memory of his past life, or how things within the dungeon work. You know from our history that this has happened from time to time over the centuries and that these unique individuals tend to go on to do great things for their respective houses. It’s my hope that it will happen for us and due to these facts, he will be accompanied from now on by Amenthia as his Supporter. As you know she has been trained for this eventuality occurring, as have many since these houses were founded and this will be a permanent placement for her.”

The looks on many of the men in the hall were palpable, I had not seen such loathing before in my life, though I had been the one to loathe in the past. Usually it had been when a gorgeous girl was with a total asshat, but she didn’t seem to care about the reputation the guy had. A woman, who was a very close friend of mine growing up, had fallen for one herself and had ignored my warnings. It had caused a major rift that I had been trying to fix before I died, but now it was a moot point. I just hoped that she would be okay; maybe I had been wrong, but I still worried for her.

I had expected seeing their reactions, given that Amenthia was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, even putting the Oracle to shame. Now I had a big target painted on my head and I had no idea what kind of dark thoughts were swirling around in their heads. I was still in the dark about all their rules, especially what Pact members could and couldn’t do to other adventurers inside their house and out. I would have to be careful over the next few days until I learned the rules that pertained to this new world and the landmines that they could create.

“Now, I will let our new member of our Pact house say hello and introduce himself to everyone. Of course, he will have little to say right now, but we hope some of his memory will return soon.”

Whatever eyes that weren’t on me, were sure as hell on me now. Yay, no pressure.

I stepped forward and cleared my throat, using what little saliva I currently had to make it, so I didn’t croak when I spoke. What the fuck am I going to do for a name?! That was my only thought before uttering my first words before them and hoping to the gods that the name wasn’t too lame.

“Hello everyone, you can call me Pathios, Pathios Daxion. I plan to do my best to further the goals of the Pact house, as well as do honour to Tyr and those of you who are members of his illustrious house. I hope that you will be able to bear with me, as I have to relearn some things that I was forced to forget. It is my hope that we can all work together to make this house the best this world has ever seen, so thank you and have a good day, everyone.”

I bowed to everyone before I returned to my spot next to Tyr’s throne. Both he and Amenthia had grins on their faces, so I figured that I must have done well.

Tyr stood up once again and said, “Thank you everyone, this concludes the meeting this morning. Please enjoy your meal and do your Pact house proud in your endeavors today.”

The roar from the group was loud and strong, their devotion to Tyr was impressive and, for once, the eyes of the crowd were not on me. Everyone then turned forward towards the centers of their respective tables. At the same time, the doors on either side of the podium opened and a large group of servers entered with foods of different kinds. The feast was astounding, meats, vegetables and fruits were piled on the various platters. Some I had seen before, others looked different, yet very appetizing. There were platters of cheeses and even some seafood being brought out next, and my mouth watered at all the choices that there were lining the tables.

“My dear Amenthia,” Tyr said, turning to her, “please get yourselves some food and then head back to his room and fill him in. I don’t want you to be overheard and I have already notified the staff that an exception on leaving with food has been given. He is expected to start in the dungeon tomorrow, so you have a lot to cover today and not a lot of time to do it in.”

She nodded to Tyr in acknowledgement and came to me, once again linking her arm with mine. She guided me away from Tyr, down some steps at the side of the dais, to an open table a few feet away.

Once again, all the eyes of the room were on us, as four of the servers approached. One had a silver platter covered in cooked meats. The second platter had potatoes and other starches. The third platter had corn, carrots, and other vegetables, all steamed. The final had a bunch of fruits, berries and the like. Another server appeared with two plates and utensils and I thanked the young woman, before I took mine from her. I turned to the platters and I began filling my plate with everything I figured I would eat and waited for Amenthia to do the same. As another platter arrived with fish, I had not realized just how hungry I was and found myself taking some of the fish as well. A server placed a silver goblet in front of me, filled with what looked to be a wine of some sort, and I glanced over at Amenthia, who nodded, before I bought the cup to my lips. I took a sip, it was fruity, like fruit punch, but you could also taste a bit of the alcohol that it had hiding in its depths. Amenthia took the one she was provided, as we took our plates and made our way out of the hall.

A server used his necklace to open the door as we arrived, helping to open the door for us, as well as followed us to my room.

We wound down the corridors until we reached my room and the server lifted my necklace to open my door. We thanked him for his assistance as we passed him and, once inside my room, we sat down at the table on the far side of the room. We ate in relative silence. Amenthia had mostly fruits and vegetables on her plate with the occasional piece of meat. After twenty minutes, I finished my food and returned to the hall for another plate while she returned her empty one and we made our way back to my room.

“So I am guessing we have much to discuss,” I said in an even tone. “The first being that we should talk about are the looks I was getting in the dining hall from the other male members of the Pact house.”

Amenthia giggled and replied, “you’re going to see a lot of that from now on, unfortunately. I have had many men, over the past few years, come to me as possible suitors, but I have declined them all. So, now that we are bound together as we are, there will be some animosity towards you for some time. I know that you will do well as an adventurer, so you may as well get used to the animosity now, because it will only continue to grow as you move up the ranks.”

Damn, I had to admit that she wasn’t wrong on her assessment. If I become a popular and famous adventurer in the dungeons, there will be many who would wish me harm, or loathe my accomplishments. Well, I wouldn’t waste time dwelling on that now; I had other issues to deal with. I was expected to enter the dungeon tomorrow, so I was going to need to spend the whole day preparing and learning about that.

“First, you will need to know a few things,” she began with a warm smile. “We have already taken care of one step in our preparation for tomorrow, we got your equipment figured out and Brot’k will make sure it is ready by morning. Now, before the day is done, we will need to set a few more things into motion and the first stop will be within the entrance to the Dungeon.”

I was a bit confused; wouldn’t I need to have my weapons and armor if I was going to enter the dungeon? Hopefully she would expand on this as she continued.

She smiled, noticing my confusion. “We will be going into the entrance zone, or lobby, which is a non-combat area. The lobby also has floors above and below it which are non-combat areas as well. This is why I will need to explain some things to you, because what I am telling you is common knowledge to most other people in our city and any of the other ones. We live our lives knowing the rules and how everything works before we reach the age to be chosen. Once we reach the age of twelve, we can go through the sorting that happens on the summer and winter solstices. There, we go through the same selection as you by the town’s Oracle and, should we choose a different town, will be transported there. We then spend the next four years training and at the age of sixteen we reach level one. While you are two years behind your peers, I have no doubt you will catch up quickly. We will be visiting areas in the first five top levels and the first five bottom levels. They are no-monster zones. The top three of the five top floors are home to the three smith Pact houses of Vulcan, Hephaestus, and Ptah. The other two are potion, healing and various miscellaneous goods for sale or trade. This area is where you will be able to purchase new equipment, or deal in drops you don’t turn in to the Guild, as you progress in the dungeon and in levels as a warrior.”

I nodded as I processed this, imagining all of the items that would be found in those stores. I hoped it would not take too long before I would be getting newer and stronger equipment.

“Our second stop will be to the Guild,” she continued, “Their offices take up the top three lower floors of the five. The top floor is for solo adventurers, the middle is for parties, and the bottom is for Pact house related quests and business. The fourth level is the turn-in area, this is where you turn in your orbs and can get special quests based on some things you may turn in. In our case today, we will be going to register you with the Guild on the third floor. Then our final destination will be to the Knowledge Center located on the lowermost level. There you will also be registered and learn what the knowledge center is for.”

“Ok, when exactly will we be going out to do these things? I am not really sure what time it is, so I don’t know how much time we have to complete the tasks laid out for us today.”

She smiled and said, “It is morning, we still have a few hours before mid-day. I take it you weren’t shown all of the abilities of your crystal yet?”

“No,” I replied sheepishly, “all I was shown is the stats, feats and skills displays. I didn’t know that there was more to the crystal.”

She smiled with a slight nod and placed her hand on her crystal and said, “Map Display!”

The crystal began to shine, and a new display emanated from her crystal. It reminded me of the maps that were used in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The look was top down, or isometric and there were different blips moving around a very detailed map of the building we were in. Another noticeable feature was that in the center of the display was a golden circle with an arrow. No doubt this icon was her location and the direction she was facing.

“As you can see, the crystal has a map function,” she began, “the golden dot with the arrow is your location and direction. Green dots are Pact members, grey dots are vendors, blue dots are other adventurers and the red dots are monsters.

“There are three displays, the first being an interior. This is when you are in a structure in the world such as our Pact house. When in the city it will be a city display and, in the dungeon, it will be a map for the current floor you are on. You can select between the room and city displays by hitting the toggle on the bottom right of the map.”

It sounded simple and useful, so I was confident that it would be no problem to handle. It was then I noticed that at the top of the display some runes were shown, as well as some numbers. I could tell one group was a date, meaning the other group had to be the time. The runes didn’t seem to spell anything in English, so I would need to learn to read them, the sooner the better.

She continued, “As you can see, the top of the display shows the time and date at all times, both inside and out of the dungeon.”

“Well, I guess the questions I need to ask would be, how many hours are in a day? How many days in a week? And how many months in the year?”

She nodded, “This world was fashioned after your old one, despite the planet’s size. The same number of days and months as well. Part of a Supporter’s training is to be made aware of your world, as to better facilitate your transition to ours. Though this world has been around for over three hundred thousand of our years, they left yours around the year nineteen ninety-five. As such, there would not be too much discrepancy in our information. Also, since gods and goddesses appear in your movies, television and other media, they get updates to changes your world has undergone.” I must have made a funny face, because she laughed and said. “Think of it as if they are living off the grid, so to speak. However, when their name is used, it is like they get an instant Wi-Fi connection that updates them on the world’s current events.”

Both the situation that the Council had set up, as well as her knowledge of my world was impressive, and I was impressed on how they were able to keep up to date.

“Another question,” I asked thoughtfully, “Brot’k said something about a trial, what exactly did he mean by that?”

“He was right about that, I am afraid, as all new adventurers are required to complete a quest at the behest of their Pact leader. In your case the difficulty will be much higher, as I will be there with you, but the benefit is that the reward will be much greater for both of us.”

That was interesting, not really that much of a surprise though, as it tended to be a staple of many video games, especially RPGs. The Borderlands series came to mind, in that as the difficulty increased with more players, the rarity of the rewards increased as well. At least I knew that I was not going in there alone and that gave me some comfort. I just wondered what the quest would be, but I hoped it was a unique one. She gave the crystal on her bracer the command to turn off the map, and the display disappeared in a flash.

“Now we have some work to do, Pathios,” she said smiling, “I hope you enjoy it, because I have a feeling that I will.”

She took my hands in hers and pulled me to my feet. Linking her arm once again with mine, we made our way out of my room and back into the hallway. Instead of going right, we headed left and made our way down the hallway. Along this corridor there were multiple doors that looked to be like mine, no doubt that these were the rooms of other adventurers.

Amenthia leaned her head near mine and said, “All new and low-level adventurers have quarters on this floor. There are three levels to this building, the second is the mid-level barracks and the top is high-level barracks. The only special housing on the main floor is Tyr’s, because, while other gods or goddesses may reside on the topmost level of their building, he likes to be down close to those who start for him. He feels that it shows that he cares not just for the best, but for all of us, especially those starting out as new adventurers for him. There are also for small tower structures that are given to the elite of the house. There has been talk of a room that can only be unlocked by certain circumstances occurring, though I believe you are those circumstances and hope that my instincts prove to be true.”

As we left the corridor, we came upon a large, circular atrium that looked to stand thirty or more feet high and twice that far around. Another corridor ran parallel, on the opposite side of the room, no doubt leading to more living quarters. I would have to explore this place more when I had some free time - if I had free time.

The large wall between the corridors leading to the various rooms had a very large depiction of Tyr on it. The picture showed a rather vivid depiction of a very large wolf wrapped in chains, with people on either side holding it down. One person was standing in front of the beast with his hand in its open jaws, which I knew was Tyr.

Amenthia looked up and gestured at the image before us. “This is a depiction of the Edda that told of how our Pact leader lost his hand. The Norse gods tried to catch Fenrir to stop his growth and to prevent destruction of the sun and moon. They promised it would just be for a short time, then they would set him free. Because Fenrir didn’t trust the gods, he demanded that one of them place their hand in his open mouth, else they would feel his wrath. Because he was brave, Tyr placed his hand in the beast’s mouth as a pledge, to ensure the beast would remain still. Odin and the other gods knew he would be a cause of destruction during Ragnarok, so they rescinded their oath to free him. Due to this betrayal, the beast bit down on the arm, severing Tyr’s hand at the wrist.”