Chapter 8: Friend or Foe

Mar's whole body goes cold, "A voice? Where? I didn't hear any footsteps!" Mar quickly turns around and jumps at the place where he heard the voice. His dagger was quickly unsheathed and in his hand the moment he heard the voice. Mar's mind runs rampant with thoughts of how this man he sees before him, snuck up on him. His dagger gets closer to the mans neck, until Mar falters slightly, he realizes that the man, doesn't have skin, he has scales.

Mar's dagger responds to his emotions and turns a darker shade of red, a flame appears on the end of the dagger. Unknowingly, Mar's unknown power had seeped into the dagger and caused the natural attributes of the dagger to show. The man narrows his eyes and says, "that is no way to welcome your host young man." The man disappears from his spot and leaves Mar with no target to attack.

The man instantly conjures two chairs, a table and two warm cups of tea. The man sits down in one of the chairs and starts drinking his tea as he stares at Mar. Mar can't tell whether the man is friendly or not but he knows that getting into a fight with this man wouldn't end well for him. Having the ability to conjure something out of thin air is something unheard of back on earth, not to mention the absurd speed that looked like borderline teleportation. This man is powerful.

The man says, "Please, sit, and put that toy away, I don't mean any harm." Mar slowly sheathes his 'toy', and walks over to the chair opposite the man. Mar tries to gauge his opponents strength but the the man wears casual clothing and looks to not have a weapon at all. Though, for someone who can conjure up anything in an instant, carrying a weapon seems pointless. Mar sits down and returns the man's stare. The two sit like that for a few seconds until Mar asks, "What are you?" The man smiles and says, "Guess." The man looks at Mar with a coy smile, as if waiting for Mar to answer incorrectly. The man asks, "What is your name, boy?" Mar responds, "Mar", the man says, "That's quite unique for a human name." Mar changes the subject and asks what kind of structure he has been trapped in for the last two days.

The man eyebrows furrow, "You, don't know?", he says in a confused tone. "This is a dungeon. Dungeons appear as a cause of... Well, you don't need to know why. I shouldn't give any spoilers, your planet haven't figured that out yet. Regardless of how they occur, the inside of a dungeon is always similar, defeat monsters in different rooms, get tested in the tunnels, per the magic attribute of the final boss monster, and then fight the final boss monster in the final room to escape. You enter and exit a dungeon through a glowing purple portal. Once a dungeon boss is defeated the dungeon starts getting destroyed from the initial cavern all the way to the boss room. You must leave the dungeon immediately after destroying the boss monster."

Mar sits for a minute, taking this answer in. Mar then asks, "what has happened to earth". The man response, "I assume you mean, your home planet?" The man smirks, and says, "Your plane— earth, has become the new playground for the other worlds. Many races such as Demons, Elves, Dwarves and other, smaller, species have entered earth through portals which arose in areas with a dense population. I theorize that a sudden increase of magic on earth caused there to be enough magic in a certain area which allowed for a dimensional gate to be opened."

Mar thinks to himself, "magic? dimensional gates? Demons? Playground? What is happening to earth while I am stuck here!" The man continues, "Regardless of my theories, one thing is for certain, humanity is losing against these foreign invaders, badly. The human's only saving grace is that the strongest forces of these races are unable to enter on earth. The magic in earth's atmosphere is not thick enough to sustain the stronger being's bodies."

Mar asks the man, "What happened to the humans on earth, are they still alive?" The man sighs and says, "yes, but their numbers have gone from nine billion, to fifty million. The number would be lower but because their advanced technology is still able to hold on against the invaders they have managed to somewhat survive. Only the strongest physical weapons your race has available are working to repel the attacking forces. Things like rocket launchers and tank missiles are still slightly effective."

Mar closes his eyes and recalls the year 2031, he remembers he was young when he heard the news but he still vividly remembers. The news broadcaster began talking about the new peace treaty that was signed by every country that had access nuclear weapons. To stop the second cold war, all nuclear weapons of any type were discarded. Getting rid of these lethal weapons was celebrated until the day of the monster invasions. The nuclear weapons would have been the only thing strong enough to defeat the invaders. The only thing humanity could do since the invasion, is run and hide.