One-Eye-Green was excited.

They’d spent so much time trudging through the Lowroads, the worst Lowroads, all dingy and dusty and cracked. Nobody much used them anymore, not so close to the Blight. At least the ones they’d been using more recently were nicer. And all the things kept attacking them! They should know better. But they’d never been there before so maybe the things didn’t know! At least it wasn’t Blight-things. Blight-things were the worst.

But they were done with the Lowroads! They were here! One-Eye-Green was not certain where here was. It was closer to the Surface than One-Eye-Green had ever been. Than any of them had ever been. It was so strange heading Upward. The mana was stranger and weaker and had Affinities One-Eye-Green had never felt before and there were odd tastes in the air and Big Brother kept complaining it was making his scars ache. And Upward was where bad things came from, and the Surface.

The Surface didn’t have green and orange glimstone! It had one giant glimstone, it was bright all the time and the ceiling threw things! One-Eye-Green wouldn’t believe it without the memories from the strange Gossamer that Big Sister talked to. One-Eye-Green was not supposed to be sampling the Gossamer’s mind but it had so many strange things in it! Strange, unpleasant things. Green plants? Why green? Purple and red were way better colors.

It’d been pretty scary getting here. Not just Blight-things but stuff coming up from the Depths, or maybe even the Deepest Depths. Some of the stranger and most dangerous stuff was nothing anyone had seen, the images of twisted black fire and teeth and claws shared among them and stored away for future generations. Plus how to fight them! Though One-Eye-Green wasn’t much of a fighter. Big Sister and the other scythe-sisters were! One-Eye-Green might have to change into one eventually, but she didn’t want to, so she didn’t think about it much.

Then Something Had Happened. Even Big Brother didn’t know what it was! The skittering things and lumpy things and leggy things that had clogged up the tunnels just started going away. That was good! It was a little bit of fire and noise but who was afraid of that? Then there was the water and that was a little bit scary because of how bad water could be if it was let loose in tunnels but then it was ice which was just strange, but at least that meant there was something to drink. Even if Big Sister had to cut off chunks of ice to let melt.

So things weren’t scary anymore! Big Brother was sure that the Something That Had Happened was The Thing helping them. Nobody was certain what The Thing was, only that It was named Blue. It was probably The Thing that was keeping the mana density so high, too. It’d become really sparse for a while and made it hard to breathe or think but now it was nice and soothing again and it was just the best!

「Come, Little Sister.」 Big Brother called her from where she was scampering about with her clutch-siblings, and she pranced up to the front. Most of the People couldn’t say or hear mouth-words very well so she was the one who got to say them for the People! One-Eye-Green thought Sharing was better, and it’d been so boring to learn mouth-words, but she did it for the People.

「What is it, Big Brother?」 For some reason Gossamers didn’t like Sharing! Most of them couldn’t even use it! It was so very strange. Sharing was much easier than mouth-words!

「New passages have opened. Leading to the Up.」 Big Brother took a big-huge breath and One-Eye-Green leaned against his side, peering at the opening. There was strange light coming from it, not at all like normal glimstone. One-Eye-Green didn’t like it.

「That is too bad.」 Big Brother told her, and she realized she was Sharing somewhat too loudly. 「We cannot sense any Gossamers or Things above us, but there may be some that require mouth-words.」 Big Brother Shared what he was worried about, like Gossamers attacking Big Sister or accidentally touching Big Brother and dying from the venom coating his quills.

One-Eye-Green was less excited now but maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. Big Brother and Big Sister were coming along anyway. That way One-Eye-Green would still have someone to Share with. Maybe they’d even stay within range of everyone else? It was hard to tell how much of the Up there was to go with the strange mana all around. It was like the Up was Down, which was completely wrong.

The new passages were like very small Lowroads, instead of rough-cut or following the trails of the great earth-boring wyrms. They were square, well, almost, and all the straight lines made her scales prickle. Where there were straight lines there were Gossamers who didn’t like the People. Usually really didn’t like them. One-Eye-Green didn’t enjoy feeling the minds of the Gossamers when they spotted the People.

The passage went Up, but it didn’t go Up far before it opened out. Big Brother stopped and grunted, sniffing at the threshold.

「Portal magic.」 He sent, sharing the feel of the shifting mana, the breath of somewhere else on the other side. Big Sister poked it with her scythe, though she didn’t Cut it. One-Eye-Green wasn’t sure whether Cutting would work but who knew how far they’d have to walk without a portal! One-Eye-Green had never even seen one and was disappointed it just looked like a normal hallway. What was the point of spending all the mana on a portal if it didn’t look amazing?

「Safe.」Big Sister sent back, scuttling inside first as a scythe-sister should, then Big Brother next, lumbering through on six legs. She was careful not to Send how grumpy she was at having to go last and having an ordinary portal and everything being so normal other than the weird, eye-hurting light. It was just so bright! And so…white.

On the other side there was some more familiar illumination. Lava! Lavafalls even, which reminded One-Eye-Green of being a hatchling and playing with the lava casts. Before the Blight. That wasn’t the most cheerful memory, but there were glowing flowers too! That was better, because those were like some of the nice caverns they’d gone through on their way through the Lowroads. And water! So much water and it smelled fresh and that was nice too.

And then there were green plants! It was very strange green stuff, springy and soft under her feet, and One-Eye-Green dropped down to snuffle it and sneeze because it smelled green and that was strange! She plucked a strand and chewed it, but it wasn’t tasty. Which was disappointing because preserved meat was getting really boring. A breeze ruffled the green stuff which made them all freeze, because wind Affinity always meant big caverns which meant scary stuff! And there was a passageway over there that was really really big and could have something very nasty, but nothing came out.

Big Sister Shared her perspective, taller than the rest of them, highlighting a small rise of stone and a platform around a glowing blue crystal above it, marking it as the center of the weird chamber they were in. One-Eye-Green eyed it suspiciously. Blue glimstone was unusual and such a big one was rare, and she didn’t trust it at all! But then, the whole reason they were here was for someone like the type who would have such a big glimstone so maybe it was a good thing.

It was a really big cavern for no nasties to be living in! It was also weird to have so much empty space in the Down. One-Eye-Green peered over the edge, expecting to see water and lava piling up somewhere but it just seemed to vanish away! Which was clear invitation to climb down and find out why, but unfortunately other things came first. Like the platform and the crystal that were surprisingly far away. The ground didn’t go straight, it wended this way and that and it seemed uncomfortably like a place for an ambush except they could see every way and why would anyone build it like that?

One-Eye-Green bounced between grumpy and excited fast enough that even she was starting to feel a little dizzy, or maybe it was just that only Big Brother and Big Sister were close enough to Share and they both had very Deep minds so there was always some vertigo there. Either way they all got to the stone place without anything happening and she prodded the stone with her claws, but it just seemed like stone.

The raised platform and crystal would be next but before One-Eye-Green could try to start climbing Something Happened. There was a flash and then the feeling of something very very large, even bigger than Big Brother or Big Sister! They all pulled back when they felt it, but One-Eye-Green spotted it up by the crystal and it was tiny! It was tiny and fuzzy and cute, and One-Eye-Green wanted one.

It was also a Gossamer but at the same time it was Hard, which was very strange! One-Eye-Green could sense the mind but couldn’t Share with it because there was something in the way. But maybe that was for the best because sometimes Sharing with Gossamers was bad which is why they were called Gossamers since sometimes they just broke. But with such a small thing why did it feel so big?

Noises came and One-Eye-Green realized they were mouth-words. This was what all that study was for! It was hard to concentrate on them since it wasn’t Sharing and was just so weird and flat, but it was important so One-Eye-Green focused really hard!

“This is the realm of the dungeon Power known as Blue. He knows you have not come here by accident, but were sent by one of Tor Kot’s monsters. State your intentions.”

That didn’t seem polite at all! One-Eye-Green wasn’t sure if being tiny and fuzzy and cute was enough to make the thing likeable, now. Especially since it had a completely Hard mind and was barely readable! But One-Eye-Green Shared with Big Brother and Big Sister anyway.

「Refuge.」 Big Sister’s Sharing carried images of reinforced walls, sturdy doors, clean water and polished stone. 「Status.」 Big Brother’s opinion carried with it all the impossible things the Gossamers could do, reaching out to reality and making it bend to their whim. It would have been sooo much easier to Share that with the Hard Gossamer directly, but One-Eye-Green had to use mouth-words instead.

“Hwe ahre lookhing fohr refughe.” One-Eye-Green had to concentrate very hard on both how words fit together and how to get them out around her fangs. Sharing was just so much easier and more convenient! Then again, most Gossamers didn’t have big fangy mouths so maybe it was easier? “Ahnd fohr the ssstatusss.”

The tiny cute thing didn’t reply immediately but One-Eye-Green could tell it was Sharing with something else! Even if being so Hard meant that One-Eye-Green couldn’t read the Share, it was definitely Sharing with something Big. Which was probably what they were feeling. One-Eye-Green was a little miffed that it was willing to Share with something Big but not with them! But maybe also glad the Big thing wasn’t Sharing with them directly because Big things could be kind of scary!

“Blue is capable of providing refuge,” the tiny cute thing said, though it took One-Eye-Green a little bit to take apart the sounds into meaning. That was a good thing! “But you will have to offer value in exchange for it.” That was less good. One-Eye-Green didn’t know what the tiny cute thing wanted! The People didn’t trade much anyway, so it was difficult to tell what shiny stuff they’d want.

“What sort of status are you looking for?” It added, and One-Eye-Green Shared the question with Big Brother. His reply was a six-hundred-year old memory of a displayed Class, with Skills and Abilities, seen by some sharp-eyed Scythe Sister peering in at an encampment of Gossamers. It made One-Eye-Green wonder if there were other kinds of status, because it was hard to describe that one!

“The ssstatusss whithh Classsesss ahnd Ssskillsss.” One-Eye-Green waved to frame the Status display that was in the memory, trying to convey the way the lines of text were. It was so very difficult to do that without being able to Share it directly. How did Gossamers do it?

There was more Sharing with the Big thing. Clearly if it was easy to do with mouth-words it wouldn’t be using Sharing with the Big thing so One-Eye-Green felt justified in thinking it was hard.

“You don’t have any Classes or Skills?” It finally asked.

“Jussst raccce.” Even One-Eye-Green knew that one! Once they’d stolen one of the status thingies but it was disappointing that all they got was a race and a level. Why even bother?

The tiny cute thing blinked at them. One-Eye-Green blinked back. It only had one eye color and One-Eye-Green had two so One-Eye-Green won. Definitely.

“Blue wants to know why you think he can help you with this.”

It took a while to figure that one out too, but once it was, One-Eye-Green Shared it with Big Brother and Big Sister. They had a brief Gestalt, communing together and making One-Eye-Green wait and grump. But then Big Brother shared some more stuff and she had to figure out how to say it.

“It isss a Duhngeon thing. Ssstatusss isss them.” The tiny thing flicked its ears and swished its tail and made One-Eye-Green want to pet it, but it was up there and out of reach. Which wasn’t fair at all.

“I’m still not sure what you mean. Most people who have a proper Status never go anywhere near a dungeon.”

Big Brother shared more memories, older and deeper ones, from longer ago than One-Eye-Green could even count and farther away than she could imagine. Of Gossamers much like the tiny cute thing only they were also monsters and living inside a Dungeon. Then of them showing the ability to do things that only Status provided. Then they were not in a Dungeon.

“Hhhyour type hhwere like usss. Before ssstatusss. In Duhngeon.” The tiny thing blinked again and there was more Sharing. It would be so much easier if they could Share directly with the Big thing! Even if it was kinda scary! Mouth-words were hard and explaining what the memories were was even harder!

“Wait, you’re saying fox-kin were monsters?”

“Hyesss!” At least the tiny cute thing seemed to be smart! One-Eye-Green knew that mouth-words were hard so it was good that it understood everything.

“And you want to become not-monsters, and get access to Classes?”

“Hyesss.”

“And that Dungeons are responsible for this?”

“Hyesss.” One-Eye-Green nodded energetically. Maybe mouth-words were not as bad as they had first seemed. The tiny thing didn’t talk for a while though, instead Sharing a lot with the Big thing. Maybe it was confused?

“We’ll have to come back to that,” the thing said. “Why do you need refuge?” She knew the answer to that one too!

“Hneed mahna. And the Blihhght.”

“The Blight?” The tiny thing seemed more interested in that, but how could it not know about the Blight? Well, they were kind of far away from it, so maybe it wasn’t a big deal. “What is this blight, and where?”

“Is the Blihhght.” One-Eye-Green wasn’t sure that there were mouth-words to describe the hostile desolation that was slowly expanding and chewing through their former home. Big Brother and Big Sister at least could provide a direction, so One-Eye-Green pointed. “Isss that wahy.”

The tiny thing looked in that direction even though there was lots of rock in the way, so it wasn’t possible to see anything. Or so One-Eye-Green thought. But maybe it was possible! Status abilities were very weird so who could know?

“I’m going to try telepathy now. Just show me what you mean by the Blight.” The little thing had a weird name for Sharing but she opened a little hole so One-Eye-Green could Share with her even with a Hard mind! Though the hole was so little it was hard to Share properly but One-Eye-Green pushed all the Blight memories that would fit! The transmuting stone and the weird monster things and the sickly feel of the mana and the running away and maybe also that it wanted to pet the tiny cute thing because it was tiny and cute. Then the hole closed which was rude because One-Eye-Green wasn’t finished yet but hopefully the tiny thing knew what it meant anyway. Then there was more Sharing with the Big thing and One-Eye-Green had to wonder what the Big thing had to Share that was taking so long but eventually the tiny cute thing nodded and looked down at them.

“Blue will have to consider this more closely. For the moment, he will grant your request for refuge, though he does not have the resources to provide you with food. He will leave an entrance to the tunnels open for hunting however, and only intervene if there is another swarm.” Big Brother thought this was fine. So did Big Sister. Everyone had to learn to hunt anyway and they could do everything else themselves. And with the mana density so high and tasty no one would get sick and die!

“Isss Ghood.”