A Bar a Vampire and the Apocalypse

The next day came and went. There were more cops on the streets, some even came over to us but Eric convinced them to leave us be. Even then they had more important things to deal with then people peacefully working together. There were still many break out fights and even some non-humans coming out to play. Apparently there was a werewolf pack based in the area. How I did not know is rather impressive on the werewolves part. To be fair I doubt they knew I was here either and they truly do have a superhuman smell. I guess some of them did not have the ability or skill to disguise their race.

Otherwise things moved along until now. Military vehicles were now running down the streets. Total martial law is now in effect. With that it was bound that they would try to shut us down. I was standing with Eric waiting for the national guards and such to come to us. Eric was in full uniform looking imposing and in control. The group of armed military that approached had a rather high ranking officer with them. The man lending the group was a colonel. I can only imagine the reason such a high ranking officer was here was for the dungeon.

The colonel looked to be in his early fifties and built like a brick wall. Clean shaven like all those in uniform and stood at an impressive six four. He looked over at me and Eric. After sizing us up and looking around he spoke with a tone only a superior officer could.

“Sergeant, explain to me why I should not have all of the people here put under arrest?” Eric solutes and spoke in a controlled and formal voice.

“Sir the people here have been peaceful trying their best to stay out of the violence, learn about the system and proper for what WILL come next.”

The colonel harrumphed and said “Come next? What do you think will happen next? We already have dragons, werewolves, a god forsaken screen in our vision that could come out of a video game and dungeons to match.”

“Sir, when the system came to us it said it was phase one. If this is what happens after the first step what could come next. Will creatures like those in the dungeon appear to throw out the world? Will the earth change even more? Will the dungeons become more aggressive? The amount of things that could go wrong is great and we have limited information to work with. We, believing things are not going to get better. So we came together under the protection of the local dungeon handler” Eric gestured to me” to learn and grow. The sooner we understand the system the faster we can use it to improve not only ourselves but those around us and the city states and countries we live in.”

The colonel stared daggers at me. He then commanded.

“Miss you can either give up the dungeon, be arrested and forced to give it up or killed and therefore give up the dungeon.”

Eric gasped at this declaration. The man with the colonel flinched but otherwise did not react. I just smiled.

“Sir you can’t”

“SILENCE SERGEANT. So miss, are you going to make this easy or are we going to have to waste time on dealing with you?”

Tilting my head still smiling, I said “Colonel, I'm sure you have been informed of some of the things dungeon handlers can do so why would you risk me doing something that could get you and everyone here killed?”

The colonel scoffed “Because you are no mass murder no sane human would do that.”

“But Colonel not only is it implied that there are nonhumans among us but I could not be sane or the dungeon could have changed me.” Eric looked at me with a slight bit of fear in his eyes. He does know what I am after all.

The colonel squinted his eyes at me. I then topic shifted “Colonel how informed are you on dungeons please tell me all you know I am rather curious about something?”

The colonel was looking rather annoyed at this point. He was about to speak and I knew he was going to order my arrest. Before he did I flashed only on him the aura of age and wisdom from my presence of an ancient skill. That skill really was coming in handy. It did almost everything I needed it to. I guess that's what you get for an epic skill.

The colonel paused with his mouth open, his eyes wide. Shaking himself he re-examined me and spoke. “What I have been briefed is that dungeons are places where monsters roam. The rules of each dungeon will vary between each. They have multiple floors of increasing difficulty. A dungeon by the law of the system must have a dungeon handler whose primary role is to be the ambassador of the dungeon. The experience gained in a dungeon is unique in that it is many times more than that of outside. It is also the only place a non combat class can gain a sizable amount of experience by killing a beast but still not as much as doing things conducive to their class. They are also a place of essentially unlimited resources as far as we can gather.

The layout of each dungeon is dependent on the dungeon but from what we can tell from the information we have is that most dungeons with few exceptions have what they call floor guardians on each floor. What most people call them is floor bosses. That is the basics of what we know of dungeons.”

There is a rather important bit of information missing from that explanation. But there is something else I want to ask first.”

“Colonel I only have knowledge of the dungeon behind me but I would assume that you have knowledge of quite a few more dungeons than me. So I must ask how many floors does a typical dungeon have?”

“In the United States the largest dungeon we know of is around 20 floors. The largest dungeon in the world is one in Japan with around 25 floors. As I have been told, the handler does not have the ability to get the exact number of floors and the dungeon masters are not forthcoming with this information.”

I lost my smile and paled which was rather impressive seeing that as a vampire I tend not to tan very well. The colonel looked at me with a face of confusion Eric did as well. I looked back to those behind the colonel and asked. “What is the clearance of those with you? I have some information that you and many more important people than both of us will want to know.” My joking happy go lucky features were gone and all seriousness was on my face. My demeanor change seemed to catch the colonel off guard. He looked to me then back to his men and said.

“I assume it has to do with the dungeons.” I nodded

“I don't know if it is information best spread out. I will let those that are responsible for the public decide whether or not to divulge this information.” He nodded and said.

“I agree with that, do you have somewhere private you would like to discuss this.”

“Follow me you as well Eric I don't believe I have informed you of this yet.” Eric nodded and they both followed me.

Our group including the men with the colonel made our way to the bar, Gaining no shortage of attention doing so. Sarah was at the door of the bar. I smiled at her and she smiled back and got out of the way. Making our way to the back where my stairs were. Steward was currently on guard at my room. I had a rotation of trustworthy people on guard when I was not in my home. I did not need a hungry vampire waking up to a stranger next to her.

The colonel left his men at the bottom of the stairs with Steward who looked just as imposing as the prime of the military. Walking into the living room the first thing the colonel saw was my daughter. He took a step closer to her and I was next to him and spoke in his ear.

“Do not bother her colonel.” Before he could turn around I was around a couple of steps away from him. He looked rather spooked. I jested him to my office and we all walked in. I sat at my desk. Eric stood in the back straight and stern while the colonel took the seat across from me. He looked at my admittedly impressive hand carved wooden desk. It was made almost two hundred years ago now. It was a beautiful mahogany with rather unique and interesting wood patterns on the desktop.

Looking up from the desk he began. “Okay miss…”

“Viviana is my name.”

“Okay Miss Viviana, what is it that you would like to share?”

Taking a deep breath I began. ”To start with, one of the times I spoke with the dungeon master of the forest of stars, the dungeon outside here.” I gestured to where the tree would be outside. ”She told me that she was one of if not the most powerful dungeon masters to come over to our world. I did not have anything to compare that too until now and she may have been understating it.”

The colonel’s eyebrow rose at that and he asked. “How many floors does this dungeon have?”

Taking a deep breath knowing this was going to make things much harder but it still needed to be said. “The forest of stars has somewhere around one hundred floors.”

Eric gasped and the colonel leaned back in his seat. Gareena’s dungeon was almost 4 times larger than the currently known largest dungeon on earth. But that is not what is scary about this all.

“I understand the surprise that this dungeon is as fair as we know unique in its size. With that said I have information I am rather surprised you do not know. Whether you were not informed, did not ask the dungeon masters or this is something unique to dungeons of a certain size would know.

When discussing things with the dungeon master I had a list of things me and my companions came up with to ask the dungeon master. I’m sure you have asked many of the same questions. But one of the things that I learned was to be honestly terrifying. There is an event so to speak that happens to all dungeons. After the second to last phase happens an event called a dungeon break will happen every two to five months. In this event 10% of the dungeon's population will pour out of the dungeon and attack everything in the dungeon’s sphere of influence.”

The colonel paled a few shades along with Eric. The colonel leaned forward and put his head in his hands. Eric was sliding down the wall. I could imagine the thoughts going through their heads at this news. This was on top of now knowing there was a 100 floor dungeon beneath their feet.

“What are we going to do about that? Every place there is a dungeon we will need to evacuate before this happens. On top of that, dungeons are the best place for everything at this point.” Feeling bad for them, I spoke up.

“It is not as bad as it sounds. For the first 10 years after the start of the dungeon breaks they will not be the whole dungeon. They will start with the first floor and increase by one floor for each break until either the time is up or the last floor is reached. So there is time to prepare. Not only do we have time before the first dungeon break is to happen but we have time before they reach the worst they will be.” The colonel looked a little better at this.

“That is good news at least. But I wonder why only your dungeon master told you?”

“My only guess is something to do with her strength. Because not only did she inform us of the dungeon breaks with that but that there will be at least two more phases.” the colonel nodded at that.

“You're right but that leaves the ticking time bomb that is this dungeon. I can't imagine we will be able to stop one hundred floors worth of monsters even in twenty years. What are we to do about that? I know that is above my pay grade but still.”

“Colonel, according to the dungeon master there is no group of humans alive that will be able to stop the onslaught that will happen once the grace period is over.” He sighed but then raised an eyebrow.

“You said humans.” He said it like an accusation

“I did colonel. May I ask you what you know about those that live among us that are not human?” The colonel started to have light glisten off the sweat on his skin.

“I…” Seeing what I wanted I stated a phrase that I have never had the need to use. I then said a phrase that made the colonel stiffen

“Driving roads always gives a nice sound.” I saw the recognition in his eyes.

“I am rather surprised that anyone under a 5 star general knows about that.” The colonel started to twitch a bit and I could see him getting incredibly nervous.

“I… am a rather unique case. It is part of the reason I was sent here after we found out werewolves were in the area. I believe I am the lowest ranked officer that knows anything about that phase.” By the end he started to gather himself. Straightening himself he asked

“What can I and my country do for you, Miss dragon?” Eric who was now on his feet again looked really confused. I just shook my head and spoke.

“Sadly I can not claim such a title. But my people were not there or give a code. So a friend of mine informed me of theirs should I ever need to use it.” The colonel relaxed a bit at my explanation then paused going over what I said in his head again.

“You kind was not represented at the convention?”

“No we were not. I will not go any further into it for I do not speak on my kind behalf. But I do have a friend who not only was there but helped write a lot of it out. Hence me having the dragon’s phrase.”

The colonel tilted his head. “So miss Viviana, what do you want? That is usually invoked because the one that invoked it needs something or is in trouble in some way and does not want to expose themselves.”

I gave him a predatory smile and I may or may not have let my fangs extend just a tiny bit. “I want the dungeon and the area around it. No group of humans can defend against it but a group of what you would call super naturals can. I just so happen to know enough of them to maybe make it happen.”

The colonel sat there for quite a while before he spoke. “I can’t agree to anything in fact this will have to be taken up with both the president and the governor of California but I will pass it along. For the time being I will let you operate as normal in your area. But if people need to leave I will need to be informed. I will leave the people around this area with instructions for this.”

Seeing nothing wrong with this I agreed and we finished up. After a short conversation about who would have to contact who when people need to go in and out of our area and other things along that manner.

“Well Miss Viviana I have a lot of information to communicate to people as you put it much more important than you and me. But the way you talk I don't know how many of those people really are more important than you.” I laughed.

“It was a pleasure colonel, good luck at getting the area under control. Also if you ever happened to come across the local alpha please send him my way. I would not mind having a chat with him.” The colonel nodded and made his way out. I watched him leave to make sure he did not do anything weird.

Eric then looked at me with so many emotions in his face. It was rather surprising seeing as he was rather good at keeping them off his face. Before he could open his mouth to ask, I spoke.

“You were not with us yet when we found out about the dungeon breaks. WE decided to stay because not only would we have a lot to gain from the dungeon but I have family and friends that I plan on recruiting. After discussing it with the dungeon master, if I bring on board the people I hope join us we can possibly win, and if we don't think we can we can pack up and leave.

Next, near the beginning of the 20th century there was a meeting between a rather large group of different races. Knowing that they were going to be exposed in a way that could not be hidden sooner rather than later. So they decided to gather some of the at the time most powerful countries leaders and make themselves known to them. The specifics I do not care to go into right now but just know that most major world leaders are aware of many of the supernatural races.”

Walking out of my office we both sat down in my living room. Me next to my daughter. Desiring to fill in Eric on all the things he was not privy to yet having not been in the know for long we talked.

“That is the plan as it stands right now. Any other comments or concerts can wait until our next meeting. I would rather have more people thinking about whatever questions you may have. I may be old but I am not all knowing.”

“Fair enough. It is rather ambitious what you want to do.”

“That it is.” It was then that everything changed once again just over 4 weeks after the world changed forever. The system once again made itself known.

[Phase one has completed. Phase two the cataclysm will now begin]

Then reality itself began to shake. I jumped on to my daughter as everything moved.