A FEW YEARS BEFORE THE DELVE IN AZBOKEUS DUNGEON

  The wooden boards made a quiet squeal as Meriel stepped on them, barely awake in the early morning. His eyes had that feeling of being glued together, or maybe stitched, and he had to admit that sleeping in his own bed for the first time in years was one of the most comfortable experiences he could remember since he last saw this place

  He hadn't visited, not even one time since discovering his magical talents. Just one way trip to the Academy and then into Jonathan's party several years following that, and he soon enough hadn't gotten any time to see his family, his roots.

  But returning home was a breath of fresh air.

  Everything around him held memories that came to him upon a glance; the white curtains with a yellow stain coming from Meriel spilling some tea, the crack in the door when his smaller brother fell while playing hide and seek. Nothing—or at least nothing that mattered—had changed in the past several years.

  The city of Mura hadn't changed much either. It still put its mage spires onto a pedestal, showing them proudly for all of the Lavarza kingdom to see. They were the pride of every Muran, as if the fact that the city had mages made their lives better somehow.

  "Hey honey, come eat breakfast!" His mother's voice came through the wall, calling him and tearing him away from his thoughts. It was strange, being in this room all alone. He was one of the three siblings, and never before had he seen this place be so quiet.

  "Coming, Mom!" He shouted back and quickly began dressing himself. He still didn't feel quite like himself when he was dressed in the simple garb that his parents and siblings were wearing, but he was getting used to it quickly. Not that he'd have to get used to it completely, of course. He'd soon enough rejoin his party, but it was nice to get the whole experience.

  The white shirt, or, better said, gray shirt now after years of use, felt comfortable on his skin. The wood creaked some more under his feet as he walked towards the kitchen slash dining room, the smell of his mother's cooking making him salivate.

  "Oh, is it an omelet today?" he asked excitedly, trying to see into his mother's pan.

  "Oh, sit down boy, you'll know soon enough," she gave him a playful smile, shooing him towards his siblings. He greeted them and sat down next to them, not quite sure what to say. It caused a sense of dissonance whenever he looked at them.

  He was the oldest of the three. His sister was just two years younger, however, and while he remembered a playful kid, she was a proper lady now. Apparently, she was courting a man named Dan from the city—Meriel remembered the kid being a boy who was a nightmare for most of Murans, but he was apparently a proper artisan now.

  His younger brother, whom he remembered as quite the stocky boy for his age, was all muscle now. Apparently, he joined a swordsmanship school. Meriel even wondered how his brother would fare against Jonathan, though he reckoned there was an unfair comparison.

  "Mom, when is Meriel gonna stop looking at us all funny?" Eveline asked, rolling her eyes and smiling when Meriel became completely quiet.

  "Yeah, Mom, it's quite silly isn't it?" Bugs added, sipping at his cup of water.

  "Oh shut up you two! Do you know how weird it is to see your little siblings suddenly be almost as tall as you?" Meriel replied, not even trying to suppress his own smile.

  "Almost as big as you? Brother, I am a good half head taller than you now, and twice as wide too!"

  "Oh shut up Bugs! I can still beat your ass whenever I want to!" Meriel chuckled, not really meaning the insult. It was just the way he and his siblings always spoke, and this brief exchange already settled him down.

  It was his second day back, though he would stay only for a week, and then he’d be away, gone until who knew when. Jonathan wanted them to go explore into the Farima desert. Apparently, there was a huge sand worm hidden somewhere in the southern parts, and it would let them get some more experience before taking on the dragon next to Mura city.

  "Okay, quiet now, you three!" their mother chimed in, holding four plates as she walked towards the wooden table. The steel plates clinked as they thunked onto the wood, and the smell confirmed Meriel's suspicions.

  A bacon omelet. One of the ‘specialties’ that Meriel’s Mom prepared whenever the harvest was really good and she could trade some eggs for something else. It wasn't a special meal of any sort—hell, he could purchase something far more extravagant himself with the money he was making—but nothing in the world tasted like his mother's cooking. He began wolfing it down before the others had even said "good taste."

  "Meriel, what have you been up to? You've barely spoken since you arrived. Basically, just robbed your room clean of any memento you've kept here," his mother asked, and he couldn't help but feel his mouth dry up and a lump forming in his throat.

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  He didn't like speaking of his experiences. He didn't even know why. It wasn't like there was no violence in his family's life. That wasn’t the case after their father's death. But something about it just rubbed him the wrong way. He couldn't look into his mother's eyes and tell her how many times he'd come to meet death face to face.

  "Sorry, Mom, I've just been busy and scared of what we are getting ourselves into. But I can tell you over dinner—how does that sound?" he offered, hoping that he'd be free for now at least. The glint in his mother's eye told him that she wasn't quite satisfied with that answer but she would take it for now.

  "Dinner it is. Now eat up. I can see you already stuffed half of your face full."

  "I guess some things never change," his sister offered, chuckling while disassembling half of her plate already herself.

  "I guess some never do."

  PRESENT TIME

  Meriel stood in front of the city wall. The line stretched to several hundred feet. There were a lot of merchants, their carts full of wares, trying to get inside the city. There were more of them than he'd ever remembered seeing in one single line. Not even the festival days were so full before.

  He wondered what brought the change, but truly, almost anything could have, in the century past. He stood in the line, seeing some pointed glances from the grumbling merchants and waited patiently, trying to see as much of the city as he could.

  The walls were much better built than he remembered. Before they were just wooden palisades with some space on top for the city guard to watch the surrounding area from. Now? They were proper rock walls, sturdy, made for sieges. There was no need for them before. The mages protected the city well enough, and the city mayor from Meriel’s memories offered that it was more profitable to spend taxes on different things. Meriel actually quite liked the fact that the citizens could feel more safe with these.

  There was another object of his scrutiny as well. Yes, a lot of time passed, but he was almost certain that the mage towers should already be visible even from this far away. They were far taller than the former walls, and though the new walls were higher than before, they weren't quite as tall to block out the view completely. He could still see some roofs peeking out from beyond, but the mage towers were nowhere to be seen.

  That baffled him. Yes, Mura city wasn't large, or at least it wasn't large before. Now the city perimeter seemed to be almost twice as large. But the Mura city mage academy was one of the Lavarza kingdom's profound points of pride. And they were just gone, just like that?

  He made a mental note to check on the academy after checking his house. He knew that he wouldn't find his family there, or at least not the family he knew. But he still had to see and he still wanted to visit their graves. That was the first thing he'd have to do. After that, he'd go check and try to find out anything about his former party. What happened to Jonathan? Beril? Elsa? He needed to know as soon as possible.

  Also, he’d have to check on the magic academy. The fight with the bandits already made him think about what could have happened to magic, for them to be so surprised about his mediocre spell so much. It was just a simple transmutation after all, but they seemed baffled, almost ready to call him a demon. Any second year student should have been able to do something like that, though to a lesser degree. Any noble child who had the funding.

  Did the King maybe make a bad decision and directed the mages in a bad way? The mana around him was as thick as he remembered, maybe even more so, so it could definitely not be something wrong with the mana thickness in the air.

  Maybe someone suppressed the mages somehow. Though he had no idea how something like that would be done. The Lavarza kingdom had the strongest mages on the continent after all. It was the sole reason why a kingdom so small never got invaded.

  The line finally moved again, the shuffling of feet making him stir. Just a few minutes now and it would be his turn. He tried to listen in on the guards inspecting the wagon in front of him just to hear absolutely nothing of the conversation. Quickly he cast an incantation and the spell registered.

  [Enhanced Hearing Level 57 activated]

  “Yes, that’ll do.” The voice of the guard came, carried by the wind. "Now go on."

  The soldier waved the wagon forward, and Meriel wondered about what the exchange was. He just wasted mana for nothing. Did the guards just get bribed in front of him?

  Great. He wondered how he’d get inside himself if that were the case.

  He kept what he had on him when he fell into the cave, but most of the items were lost to time. He also didn't bring his gold. Why bring a fortune to a place where one could die so easily after all? It would only slow him down, make sounds where they were unnecessary.

  He did keep his adventurer's tag on him, however, but maybe that was not the correct choice either. An Adamantite adventurer's tag was a rare thing after all, and he would surely be called a liar by people who didn't know him by name.

  By the gods, this would be so much easier if I knew what exactly people know of my adventures. He must have been legendary or at least close to it, he thought. Not everyone gets around to slaying a dragon after all.

  He looked to the side watching the high green grass. Ziggy was hidden there somewhere watching him as Meriel instructed. He didn't protest and seemed to understand Meriel's request fairly easily, once again making him appreciative of the intelligence that the dragon showed.

  Finally, the cart in front of him moved towards the guards. Just a little bit longer and he'd be allowed inside. He felt exhilaration, but he also felt really excited about the prospects of finding out. There was nothing worse than not knowing after all, and he'd long grown tired of it in the bubble.

  This time the guards and the merchant in front of him conversed. Meriel not bothering to listen in again, and he tried to quickly think of a reason why he was inside. Though he didn't wear shabby clothes, he feared that they wouldn't let him inside for fear of him being a beggar or a refugee or something similar. The men around him wore different attire than he was used to after all. He'd also not seen anyone in a mage's robes, making him once again wonder about what exactly changed.

  The wagon's wheel in front of him started squirming as they moved forward, the mud changing to rocky pavement as it went through the gate. Meriel put one foot in front of the other, preparing his best greetings.

  Suddenly a voice appeared at his side, shocking him. He looked down, and found a kid there, looking straight at him. It was a girl wearing really shabby clothes, full of sun-dried mud. They reminded him of the hunter's kid from his childhood, though he could not remember the name.

  The kid gave him a gap-tooth grin and said, "Hey mister, mind if I tag along?"