Chapter 16: Delver Dill

The shouting was coming from nearby and sounded panicked. It could very well be something that sounded like a human, but there was no harm in finding out. I was sprinting towards the shouting before I knew it, my blade ready just in case this was just some monster that made sounds like a human. Who knew, maybe this was a way to draw in prey. Well if it was then it would find that it had made a grave error because I wasn't prey, not anymore.

I drew my pistol as the shouting grew clearer and clearer along with other sounds that I recognized as goblin cries. There must have been a number of the green monsters which was confirmed when I finally made it to the source of the shouting.

Surrounded by what must have been over a dozen goblins was a human in battered and worn-looking leather armor, though even torn his looked better than the bracer and chest piece I had. His left arm hung limply while his other was raised, a curved scimitar-like sword in hand. He looked to be in his early teens with light brown skin and short blond hair. Brown eyes currently full of anger and no small amount of fear moved from goblin to goblin. I'd be fixing that.

The goblins hadn't noticed me over their constant cries, and I watched as they threw stones at the teen who managed to dodge and bat away most of them with his blade. It wouldn't last though, the goblins were working themselves up into a frenzy, their chorus of cries getting louder and louder. All it would take was one charging and the rest would follow, burying the unfortunate teen in a pile of green bodies.

With the amount of noise already going on, I wasn't too worried about using my pistol. Three rounds left the barrel of my gun and three green bodies fell. Quickstep increased my speed and I was next to the shocked goblins before they even knew what was happening. An arm here, a head there, and blood gushing everywhere.

The teen looked shocked, but he didn't wait and watch. He charged at a group of three, his sword moving gracefully. He lopped off a head and kicked a second goblin before bringing his blade down on the third.

Only four remained two of which tried to jump on me. A force push sent them flying back in the direction of the man who looked like a young warrior from a fantasy game. He ended them both which was a shame since I wanted the XP. I turned to the last two who took one look at their fallen comrades and ran, screaming in that odd little language of theirs.

Only the corpses I'd killed vanished which shocked the teen who stared at the piles left behind.

"Wow, magic?"

I blinked, not at his voice, but at the language. He wasn't speaking English, but I could understand him and even…

"Something like that," I said in a language I'd never spoken before, but that I somehow knew fluently. I walked over and searched the piles. "I have to say I didn't expect to find another person here."

"Neither did I," he replied with a smile, sheathing his sword and extending his uninjured hand. "Dill Hyden, delver."

"Kaiden Lorde." I shook his hand. "Delver?"

He frowned. "Yes, you are a delver as well, correct? You certainly look like one."

I shook my head, not understanding. "I'm afraid don't know what a delver is?"

"You're from one of the smaller outposts then?" He tilted his head. "Or a village far away from the cities?"

"I'm from Texas on Earth."

"Never heard of Texas and Earth?" He shook his head. "What gate are you from?"

"Listen, I'm from the United States, a country on planet Earth," I said slowly. "And I don't know what you mean by gate."

"Oh… Am I the first person you've seen in Labyrinthea?"

Labyrinthea? "In this place, yes."

Dill sighed. "Oh, it's just my luck."

He sat down, looking dejected.

"You ok?" It was clear he wasn't, but that didn't mean I shouldn't ask.

"No. Don't get me wrong, I'm really thankful you saved me, but if you're from a new gate then you can't help me get back."

"To where?" I asked.

"Razeal. It's the city I'm from," he said. "Though that doesn't mean much to you."

"No, but you could explain it." I holstered my pistol. "Maybe over some wolf steak and water?"

His stomach grumbled in response and he coughed. "If it's not too much trouble."

I smiled and helped him up. "That arm broken?"

He nodded. "Beetle."

I winced. "Well, I can help you with that as well. I've got a first aid kit. You answer my questions in trade for my help, deal?"

We shook on it, and as I led him back to my small abode, I thought of everything he'd said and my mind spun with possibilities. This dungeon wasn't as simple as I had first thought. Cites, delvers, and who knew what else?

"Do… do you know what language we're speaking?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's just the language of the Labyrinth. Everyone learns to speak and write it when they first step in."

So it hadn't been the orb then that had allowed me to read the journal. The dungeon had taught me a language.

"It makes everything a whole lot easier," Dill went on. "With all the mixing of worlds and such."

He laughed at the expression on my face. "I'll explain later. I've never met someone who's completely new to things, but you're not uncommon in Labyrinthea. Once in a while, people from far-off and undiscovered gates not connected to the main network appear. A path was actually made to the last one. It was close by enough you see and the councils were in agreement for once."

I hoped my aid was worth a lot, because I had a ton of questions, some of which I wanted to ask right now, but I would wait. From his slumped shoulder, torn armor, and the speed he was walking, a thorough questioning wasn't ideal right now and I wasn't in any rush.

At one point during our walk, I had to climb a tree to get an idea of the location. After that, we made it back in under two hours and I immediately began to look through my backpack, hoping I'd brought it with me.

"Yes!" I pulled the small object out, and DIll walked over to glance at it. "Is that a sparker?"

"I guess you could call it that," I replied. "You have these in your city?"

"We have everything in Labyrinithea," He said, pointing at my holstered pistol. "Even artificer weapons. It must be expensive?"

"Not really," I said. "They're common in my world."

He looked shocked. "Oh, well, you might want to keep that to yourself. If the councils heard that…"

He trailed off and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I should probably start elsewhere."

"Let me cook up some food first," I said." And I can check up on that arm of yours."

My uncle would have bitten my head off from beyond the grave if I'd treated Dill poorly. Granted he was a stranger, but he seemed ok and fairly normal. He was also young and seemed a bit depressed. There was a shadow over his eyes and the way he sat; like there was a massive weight on his shoulders. I knew the feeling.

Building a firepit didn't actually take that long as DIll instructed me in a quick way to get it done using the tinder and lighter I had, and once the fire was lit and steaks cooking, I pulled a bottle of water out, and my first aid kit.

He drank greedily but I didn't mind. I had a source of water now.

"All right, pull up your sleeve," I said. "Let me get a look at it. I'm no expert at this, but I know a bit."

Another one of those important things my uncle had taught me. I was regretting not having paid more attention to his life lessons which so far had proven very useful,

Dill winced as he slowly pulled the sleeve up to reveal a discolored and slightly misshapen arm. There were large bruises and one conclusion I came to straight away was that he had more than one broken bone. The entire arm, save the hand, looked in very bad shape. I touched a finger to the area that looked to be worst off and DIll inhaled sharply.

"Worst here?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's where the beetle got a hold of me."

"I've got some painkillers and cream I can give you, and I can bandage it up to try and make a makeshift cast, but I'm afraid that's all I've got."

He looked like I had just offered to give him a free wish. "That's more I expected, thank you."

It was nice to deal with polite and grateful people. Working in the firm, there had been a lack of that. I had him swallow two painkillers while I rubbed the cream onto his arm. I used a good amount as the affected area was large. Once that was done, I tried my best to bandage it up.

"There we go." I leaned back. "How do you feel?"

"Like I could kill a dozen goblins," he said with a shaky smile. "By the way, the way you fought… amazing. I blinked and half were dead."

I smiled. That was a bit of an exaggeration. "I have abilities which help me and the gun did half the work."

"Your form could use some work," Dill said, then quickly added, "No offense meant."

"None taken." I chuckled. "I only started using a sword a few days ago."

"Is that why you went with a shortsword?"

"Mhm, I tried a longsword, but it felt too awkward. How about you, just the scimitar?"

His expression fell. "Yeah… I usually use two, but I lost one when I was split from my delver group."

"And how long ago was that?"

He shrugged. " Two days ago? I haven't been keeping count, too busy trying to survive and not get eaten. How about you?"

"I arrived yesterday," I said. "By accident. I was running from a horde of giant rats."

He looked intrigued. "Giant rats?"

"I don't know if the door to this… labyrinth is the gate you're talking about, but in the first area it's a maze of tunnels full of giant rats."

"Gates aren't all the same." He glanced over at the steaks and after checking, I flipped them. "It's just a term to describe the ways in. I was told by my father that his world's gate is an open dragon skull, and my mother told me hers is a crack in a tree."

"Your parents are from different worlds?"

"Yes, they met in the city and had me and my sister a few years later. If sister's let them know then they're probably on their way to try and find me, not that it'll do them much good. I fell into a dark gap."

Dark gap. That sounded like something I had come across. "Was it a hole of darkness in the ground?"

"You've seen one?"

I snorted. "I fell through one. That's how I got here."

"Then we have that in common," he said with a sigh.

The steaks were done and we were forced to wash some rocks and use them as plates.

"Here." I handed him one of my throwing knives. "Use this."

"Thanks."

I sliced off a piece of still sizzling meat. I speared it and shoved it into my mouth. I let out a groan at the taste. It had smelled good, but that could be deceiving. Not this time though. The steak tasted juicy and powerful. Before I knew it I was a quarter of the way through mine while Dill looked nearly done with his. He ravenously tore into it, not bothering to cut it into pieces. He just stabbed the knife down and moved his mouth closer to take large bites. I hadn't seen any food or means of making a fire on him nor had I seen much edible-looking flora in the forest, so it was unsurprising that he was starving.

He was done in short order and before he even asked, I had the last of the steaks on the fire.

He looked a bit embarrassed. "I don't want—"

I raised a hand to stop him. "It's fine. I can get more easily enough. In fact, here have a nutrition bar."

I finished eating my steak and Dill began in slower on his second, savoring it this time.

"So, you mind telling me about Labyrinthea now?"

He nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of steak. "What do you want to know?"

"Just give me basics for now," I said.

"All right, well firstly this place is part of Labyrinthea which is what we call this world or realm or plane, whatever you want to label it as. It's connected to various worlds through gates, and some time ago, people came in through these gates, and well, the history is complicated and chaotic so I won't go into detail, but the current state of things has been around since my parents time."

He took another bite of steak and sighed. His posture wasn't as defeated. "I'm from Razeal, a city in Labyrinthea. It and many other cities are run by councils which are made up of people from all different worlds and settlers and visitors, I think."

He sent me an apologetic look. "I'm not too educated on the finer details. My sister would be a much better guide."

"How large are things?" I asked.

He shrugged. "No one knows. Some think Labyrinthea is endless while others think it grows, but I don't get that. I mean it's not like it's alive."

I didn't correct him, mainly because I didn't know myself. I had thought this dungeon was just connected to my backyard and maybe it went deep but never had I thought of this possibility. From what Dill had said, there was an entire world down here, or was it even down here? If the door to the dungeon was a gate then I wasn't stepping underground, but into an entirely different world. Was I underground? Was there even an underground or was it all like this?

"Is there a top?" I asked.

"A top?"

"A sky, a surface?"

"Not that's been discovered. I mean there are skies in some of the larger areas and even stars, but no one's gone high enough to see when they stop, I think. I've spent most of my life in Razeal."

He let out a bitter laugh. "The one time I left, look where I ended up. And with my one chance of making it home gone, snatched by a goblin. I had a compass you see, a gift from my parents. It always points in the direction of Razeal. To guide me home if I get lost."

A compass. It couldn't be, could it? I searched through my backpack until I found it. "You don't mean this do you?"

It was comical, the face Dill made. His mouth was agape, and he stared at the compass in disbelief. "H-how?"

"I got it from a goblin. The same one I'm guessing snatched it."

Dill leaned back and began to laugh, tears appearing in his eyes. "Praise to whatever god brought you to me, Kaiden. I'm saved."

"I'm glad, but please keep your voice down." It was nearing true night. "We don't need to be interrupted, especially since you need to recover."

He closed his mouth with a snap and sent me an apologetic look. "You should come with me, Kaiden. If there's a way to return to your home it'll be found in one of the cities."

"Maybe, how far do the dark gaps move people?"

"I've heard some stories of people being moved hundreds of miles while others say it was just a few." He looked around at the darkening night, then back to the fire. He sighed. "I guess we should put this out?"

I nodded. "It'll draw too much attention. We'll rest for the night and I'll think about… things."

He thanked me once again, this time grabbing both my hands and bowing. "I will repay you for this, I swear it on my name."

I just smiled, unsure of what to say. I extinguished the fire and let him have the backpack to use as a pillow. He looked unsure and I could tell he felt like he was taking too much, but I just waved it away and leaned back against the wall. With that arm, he needed all the comfort he could get.

He fell asleep in a matter of moments, clearly emotionally and physically exhausted, but I remained awake, thinking about his offer. From everything I'd seen so far this place was huge, and it could take me weeks to get out. Maybe by then, Maya would have called the police or something, or maybe not. I had told her I might be gone for a while and it's not like she knew I was in a dungeon fighting monsters. There was also Linda, but I trusted Maya to be able to deal with her; she had for most of her life.

The compass pointed to Razeal and I considered it. If these cities were a mix of people from different worlds then what sort of things might I find? The compass was clearly magical, and maybe there would be something to help me get home there, or at least I could maybe get a similar object to guide me home.

I would also be lying if I said I wasn't extremely interested in seeing the city. My imagination was running wild. People and maybe even races from different worlds. Did everyone have a system or was that just me? I'd have to hint at it tomorrow and see if Dill knew. I was still thinking about things when I finally fell asleep.