“I am the dungeon Keeper of the dungeon Diamûn. My name is Maya,”

“This is… Diamûn?” I asked.

“Yes. This space here is sort of where I oversee it. It’s kind of like my home, in a sense.”

“But why bring me here?”

“To be honest… It's been many years since someone has come here. I’m not allowed to leave the dungeon, so what goes on in the outside world can be difficult for me to find out. So when you came running in, I was surprised.”

Maya paused for a moment.

“Well, when the bandits started running after you, I knew I had to protect you. Besides, … you stole food because you were hungry, right? No one chooses to steal food from bandits unless they have to.” she added.

The screen showing the entrance room disappeared, as the bandits had left. In my mind, I knew that I had gotten away from them, but I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen. My hope was to get away from them with some food; landing in the heart of a dungeon was not my intended means of doing so.

“Do you want something to eat?” Maya asked.

“Um… if that’s okay,” I said.

“Okay,”

In an instant, she disappeared from behind me. I looked forward, and there was a table of food and two chairs at it. Maya was sitting in one of the chairs. She made a hand motion for me to come over, so I stood up and walked over to take a seat.

“Um…”

There were sandwiches and other things. It felt like Maya didn’t understand what meal quite entailed - though, given she was the dungeon’s Keeper, I probably should have been less surprised. Regardless, I took one and started on it.

“This- munch - is tasty,” I said between bites.

Maya smiled.

“Oh, good,” she said. “I tried to make sure it was tasty,”

I tried to down the rest of the sandwich as fast as I could out of habit. Maya seemed to notice, as she chided me about it:

“Hey, hey, slow down, no one’s going to steal it from you,” she said.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I said.

I stopped and put down the sandwich, taking a look at Maya on the other side of the table. She looked at me for a moment, until I asked:

“You mentioned something about people not coming here? But I thought the dungeons were supposed to be valuable,” I asked.

Maya curled her eyebrows. She seemed confused about what I had just said.

“...Tell me, what do you think the dungeons are here for?” she asked.

I paused to try to think of what the answer was. Unfortunately, I didn’t really know, so I could only tell her that. She sighed in resignation.

“Where are you from, anyway?”

“Uhhh… the Trellian Kingdom… for what it’s worth. Last I heard, the Valdor Federation to the south was taking over the land,” I explained.

Maya looked at me after I said that for a moment - only to rub her forehead. She seemed frustrated about something.

“Did… I say something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s not you… there used to be a kingdom in this land, you see, but it fell about a hundred years ago. The Trellian Kingdom you mentioned arose from the pieces of it. From what I know, the King is not a good man, so I cannot say I’m unhappy about it falling apart,”

Hearing this I started to smile, almost uncontrollably.

“I agree with you then,” I said.

“Eh?”

“I don’t like the Trellian Kingdom either… my parents kicked me out because of that,” I explained.

“Oh…”

Maya looked at me with empathetic eyes.

“So you’ve been on your own since then? Just, on the streets?” she asked.

“Since shortly before my thirteenth birthday,”

“And you’re… sixteen,”

“Wait, how did you know?” I asked.

“Do you know the level system everyone has? Since I’m a Keeper, I’m allowed to look at everyone’s. Or, rather, it’s my authority to manage them.” Maya explained.

I looked at her with a blank look. Of course she’d know that, because of course she’d be able to do that. Though, her mentioning her Keeper role made me remember something else she had said.

“By the way… you had said no one had been here in decades?”

Maya leaned back in her seat, giving a resigned sigh.

“Unfortunately, the Kingdom that used to be here fell, and this land became quite unpopulated. Judging by what you’ve said, seems like the people in this land have forgotten why I’m here,” she explained.

“Isn’t that lonely?” I protested.

I was living alone for three years at that point - on the street no less. I couldn’t imagine what being alone for decades was like. Maya giggled in response to my question.

“It’s not all bad. I get to see the other Keepers - we keep in contact with each other. It’s how I know at least some things about the going-ons around me, even if I can’t leave here,”

“Oh… that’s why you haven’t gone and talked to people about it. If they don’t come…”

“Nothing I can do,” Maya said.

A moment passed. Suddenly an idea came to my mind, something to try to repay the kindness Maya had shown me.

“What if I told people about Diamûn?” I suddenly said.

“What?”

Maya looked at me blankly. She didn’t know what to make of my suggestion. Before me or her could follow up, a new voice sounded. A male voice that sounded not much older than me.

“I think that’s a neat idea, actually,”

Both of us at the table turned to face the voice. A young man who somehow seemed more plainly dressed than Maya was standing there. I didn’t recognize him, but Maya did:

“Captilio? How long have you been here?” she asked.

While Maya was asking when Captilio arrived, I sat frozen in my seat. Why is the Creator of the world here? Is he for me? I thought.

“Just got here. Who’s this?” he said.

He looked at me sitting in the chair at the table.

“A kid who wandered in.” Maya explained.

“You really are the mother between the Keepers,” Captilio joked.

He walked over to where I was sitting. I realized he wasn’t much taller than I was as he got close.

“Don’t be so nervous around me. Please, I don’t want to be feared,”

I looked at him. It was an open question how I wasn’t supposed to be nervous around the god of the world. Fortunately for me, Maya also seemed to pick up on this.

“He’s already had a bit of an adventure. Don’t make it much worse for him,” she said.

Captilio took a step back from me.

“Sorry about that. I got a sense that something was actually happening around here, so I came by to see what was happening. To my surprise, you had a good idea, I think.” he said.

Captilio looked around the white void. He turned his attention over to Maya:

“Could you make this look more presentable? I thought I asked you last time to do that. It’s a little unsettling to be in this white void,” he said.

Maya sighed.

“I guess you’re right,” she said.

I looked over at Maya as she waved her hand in a motion in front of her. When she did, the world around us changed. Suddenly a field of grass came into existence, with an ocean behind Maya. Suddenly, we were located on the coast of an ocean. Or, rather, we didn’t go anywhere - Maya simply changed the space to look like this.

“That’s better, I guess,” Captilio said.

After looking around, he turned his attention back to me.

“So, you mentioned something interesting. Can I take you up on it?”