Here or There, it doesn't matter.

“Hey, Del, what’s hanging?”

A group of lights in the shape of humans approached another light sitting in front of a monitor.

“Same ol’ same ‘ol” he replied flatly.

“Still can’t crack it?”

“Still can’t crack it.” Del shoulders seemed to slump.

“Well…I’m sure someone will be able to do it, eventually.”

“Yo, Sign, we heading out or what?”

“Yeah, just a second,” he turned back to Del, “It doesn’t have to be you, no one has high hopes at this point, but we can keep trying indefinitely, someone will get it done. Don’t feel pressured.”

The light just continued staring at the monitors.

Sign turned and left with his group.

Del had sent in hero after hero, otherworlder after otherworlder, people of all ages, all ethnicities, all races, not just earthlings either, though they had the highest affinity for the planet in question and were the easiest creatures to bring over, not only that but for whatever reason transmigrated and reincarnates gained abilities upon arrival that had become known as Cheats, but it appeared clearing the Last Dungeon was just too high a hurdle for these people.

Del hadn’t been the first person to manage the world known as The Last Dungeon and he certainly wouldn’t be the last, how long he remained in this position was random, and as Sign said the Overseers have almost all but given up on clearing it.

The one thing he was wrong about was that there wasn’t a time limit. The Last Dungeon was shrinking. That’s right, shrinking. It was only by mere feet each year which is why no one had noticed, or perhaps Del’s predecessor just didn’t care enough to notice it or maybe they had and just didn’t report it. It was likely Del would be replaced by someone higher up, someone who had authority but craved more praise or fame or even a promotion, it also for this reason that Del wasn’t going to report it. Even as a relative newbie to the Overseer division, he wanted that clout and recognition.

He leaned back in his chair. Normal humans gained cheats when transmigrated and the natives could acquire skills. He spun around lazily. Normal humans gained powers…

Spin.

The sound of screaming came from the monitor. Another “hero” had bit the dust.

Spin.

What could normal humans do against that?

Spin.

What would happen if they were abnormal humans?

He suddenly stopped spinning. The thought was only a half-formed musing but what was there to lose, it was nagging at him. If it failed then, ‘oh well’, but if it turned into something promising…

Del began searching the multiverse for the personnel he would need.

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 David Lucas reclined in his chair. There was an electric whirring as he was lowered. He left the TV on as he closed his eyes. The nightly news started.

“Blight and Dusk were apprehended eight days after the manhunt for them began. On the evening of August 12th Mayor Gaston held his campaign reelection gala at the private gentleman’s club Code Stag. During the gathering, the ECEs known as Blight and Dusk who have worked together before, crashed the gala, killed several guests and forced the remaining guests to hand over their on-hand assets and valuables. They quickly exited venue and have been on the run from a city wide manhunt. The manhunt likely would have continued for several more days had our city’s hero, Saint Cloud, not returned and brought the ordeal to a resolution.”

At some point David had sat up again. He watched the report, his face showing clear agitation.

“It wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place, back then. Supervillain wannabes.”

David was certainly getting on in years. He’d turned 62 two months back and was truly beginning to feel his age, most days he looked and felt even older. He’d once had money and power but dues and debts piled up and the uptick and corporatization of heroes had turned supervillains into comic fodder. They no longer had a place in this world. Now David and his ilk were “Enhanced Criminal Elements” or ECEs. The true villains in this world were no longer “super.”

He turned off the TV, laid back and went to sleep.

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“Is that you, Bell Jar?” A low feminine voice tickled his ears. David opened his eyes and waited for the bleary-ness to clear.

A Hispanic woman with dark hair stood over him she had perfectly square jawline and sharply drawn eyes.

“Jessie?” He said meekly, she looked over her shoulder and side of her lips twitched downward, “Got it, sorry, Mercy.” This woman’s name had been Mother Mercy, not her actual name of course. She used to run a parallel turf, she had been a supervillain like him.

She helped him stand, “How did I get here? Did you do this?” He looked around, they appeared to be in a run down church. It didn’t appear to be a Christian church either. The stained glass depicted dark claws and red worlds and demons.

“No, I woke up here same as you.”

“We’re we kidnapped? You found an exit yet?” It would be a bad idea to fight. David looked to her, neither of their powers were suited to combat especially in a fight against large groups, plus it had been years since the last time he’d used them.

“There’s no one other than us.”

“No one? They’re probably just keeping their distance and waiting for us to exit the building then.”

“That is as I thought, at least until you arrived.”

“What do you mean? Did you see who brought me in?”

“No one brought you in, that’s the issue. One second it was just me and then you just faded into existence.”

“That sounds like Mage Man. Do you think?”

“You know his powers didn’t work like that.”

“I’m just troubleshooting.” As David continued talking he slowly became aware of his voice, it wasn’t as gravelly as it had been and his left leg no longer hurt, in fact he was walking fine without a cane. He stopped, his skin was smooth, his grey beard was gone.

Jessie looked to be in her early 30s but given her power set he hadn’t thought anything of it.

“You look young. Even younger than when I first met you.” She smiled. She looked at him as though seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time. It had been about 15 years since the last time they’d spoken. He’d kept in touch with her the longest.

“I wish I had a mirror.”

“My bag and phone disappeared when I transported.”

“So, you were awake.”

“Yeah, I was visiting a friend.” She hesitated before saying friend, “I knocked on the door and the next thing.” She gestured to the church.

“I see.” Some awkwardness passed between the two, “Anyway, what do you think we should do now?”

Just as he said that a golden light flashed on the ground a few feet away, and slowly a body began to appear, fading in like overlapping scenes in a movie. He was tall and extremely top heavy, but not in a fat way, David supposed they might call it a swimmer’s build. He wore long beige pants and a dark red button up.

He fully appeared and seemed to be in a defensive position with his arms out. He suddenly screamed and flailed his arms about.

“Norton! First Law! Snap out of it!” David moved over to the man and locked his arms in place.

“What the hell!? What the hell!?”

Jessie threw her arms around his neck, if one wasn’t paying attention they might not have seen her hand giving off some subtle aura. “Norton! Hey, Norton!”

Norton’s eyes blinked open. He dropped to his knees, “Mercy, I told you not to do that, it makes me feel sick. I don’t- I don’t-” He began looking around in the same way David had looked around upon arrival. “Where the hell are we? Did you kidnap me?”

“I’m sorry, you were flailing about. No, we were brought here the same as you.”

“And where is here? And…who are you?” The last one directed toward David.

“I look a bit younger, I guess, First Law.”

“I’m not First Law, who told you that?” It seemed he’d said that on reflex since he looked over at Mercy then sighed, “I don’t like that name, It’s been 25 years since I’ve been called that. My civilian names not Norton anymore either, It’s Fletch.”

“Look, I seriously don’t recognize you, you’re gonna have to help me.”

“It’s Bell Jar.” Jessie decided not to bother with games and just tell him.

“No way, but he should be as old as me, no, older than.”

“If you could take a look at yourself, you’d see I’m not the only one.”

Norton looked at his hands. He slowly got up and began walking around like he was trying on new shoes. He hopped then ran then did a twirl.

“What is happening?” He yelled.

“We don’t know either.” Jessie yelled back.

David couldn’t believe he’d reunited with these two after so long, it was making him nostalgic for the old days, but they couldn’t spend too long catching up, they needed to figure out where they were and why they were here. It was obvious that there were no people around at the moment and the way they manifested definitely seemed like magic.

There hadn’t been any such thing as actual magic on Earth, it was always just someone’s power causing havoc. There were only two people who had powers that some would call magic, Mage Man had an ability that let him control the reality of a locked room. He could manifest whatever he wanted and control the temperature, weather, environment, every aspect of the room as long as there were four walls, a roof, and a locked door, and whatever he manifested couldn’t be larger than said room or go outside it. It was quite the horrifying power if you didn’t know the limitations of it. Once you unlocked the door or broke a window or did anything to compromise the limitations of the space then his power was nullified. This church full of holes, however, so this couldn’t be his work.

The other person that came to mind had been a part David’s group. She was a handful but again her powers didn’t include anything as convenient at teleportation.

“It has to be a teleportation ability, right?” Norton finally threw it out once he’d finished running around.

“That is my first thought, but I took a look outside.”

“What’s outside?” Both David and Norton asked at the same time.

Jessie led them through some double doors and then down another long hallway and finally out of the building. Outside was surrounded by large plants, it seemed they were in the middle of dense forest, the plants almost looked tropical.

“See.” She pointed to the sky.

It seemed bright enough to be the middle of the day and yet there were stars. David could see space and clearly see the sun and several planets in orbit.

“We’re on an alien planet?”

“It seems like a strong possibility, right?”

Snap.

They’re necks all whipped toward the sound. A small group walked out from behind a dense wall of plants.

“Greetings, we mean you no harm!” A man wearing a tall hat reminiscent of something the pope would adorn himself with cried out.

“Did you bring us here?!? I really need to get back, I’m supposed to put up the back to school signage and Debby is really lazy, she’s not going to do it” He continued rambling, David took another look at Norton and saw he had a name tag that said “Hi I’m Fletch” and below it “Assistant Manager.”

He was more neurotic than David remembered. He had a different kind of edge to him 20 years ago.

“I don’t know, I really haven’t the faintest…” The priest tried to defend himself against the onslaught.

“Norton, calm down a second, please.” Jessie once again stepped in. She turned to the priest, “I’ll ask one question at a time. Okay?” The priest nodded.

“Okay, do you know who we are?”

“Brave heroes from another world sent to us from on high.” That confirmed that we were on a different planet. David knew aliens existed, some of them even called Earth home, as citizens or even protectors. It was a relatively recent thing so the government was still in the midst of heated debate about what to do about them and how to treat them. A lot of the aliens that came to Earth were humanoid which probably had to do with the factors needed to form sentient life. Fun fact, many of the species spoke a language common to Earth, there was one that spoke something like a cross between Madarin and Klingon.

“What is this place called? The planet, continent, and country.”

“Panvera. Panvera. Mountain Country.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“You’re saying there’s only one continent.” David clarified.

“Exactly. Some are connected by land bridges but every country is a member of a single continent as you say.”

“Okay. And what did you mean by mountain country?

The priest continued his explanation. First, he introduced himself as Clamis, chief of the local village. Then he explained there were 12 countries and each one had a unique climate or landscape, with the exception of Silver Country which was an underground city known for it’s ample supply of silver and orichalcum ore.

“And how do we get back!?!” Norton screamed.

“We have heard tell of many summoned heroes, unfortunately none have returned home to my knowledge?”

“Why? Are we sacrifices? Are you going to kill us?”

“Where the hell’d you get that idea?” David found his comment to be out of left field.

“I don’t know! I don’t know! I just really need to get back.”

“Norton, Norton, we’ll figure it out, okay?” Jessica looked and sounded as calmer than she should have been in this situation. David was also freaking out a bit but in truth it didn’t matter whether he was here or there, he wasn’t worth all that much anywhere.

“What exactly happened to them” She reposed.

“The died while fulfilling the calling of every hero.” He looked a bit puzzled, “Did the lord not tell you of your grand purpose?”

“WHAT” Norton yelled.

Jessie shook her head, “We just appeared here, right? No one talked with any of us.” She looked around to David and then to Norton.

“Can you tell us what this calling is?”

Clamis looked befuddled by this revelation, “It’s quite unusual. The lord usually imparts them with a message of wisdom and a grand power to undertake their mission.” He received blank stares.

“It’s every hero’s duty to conquer the World Dungeon. I’ve heard tell that it’s the only way hero’s may return to their home, but alas not one has managed it in our recorded history.”

“Would you mind telling me, what happened to the last heroes?” David wanted more information.

“Well, as I said they died.” He seemed only mildly concerned by this since it seemed while they were hopeful of every hero or set of hero’s (it seemed it wasn’t unusual to have a group or even a class of hero’s sent over), but over the 600 so years of their recorded history no one had even gotten close.

“There was once a hero summoned to the Mountain country who looked 6 years old but was actually 30. But then again there was once an actual 6 year old summoned once. Both died quickly and horrifically.” The point being they didn’t concern themselves much with the hero’s appearance.

“The last heroes appeared in Swamp Country, news reached us only yesterday. It was quite the ordeal hiking all the way here.” There was a hint of annoyance to his words. It was understandable that they would be tired of being given false hope.

“AND WHAT IF WE DON’T” Norton yelled. It was a reasonable if painfully loud question.

“I’m not sure I understand.” Claris’s face was neutral.

“What. If. We. Don’t. Goooo. Iiinnnnn. The. Dun. Geon.” At this point Norton was being purposefully provocative.

“Norton, please.” Jessie admonished him.

Clamis eyes suddenly sparked, “Right, the lord didn’t bless you, it makes sense now. I should have led with this. You are already in the dungeon. The world is the dungeon, Pangea is just the surface of it. Wait, no that could lead to some confusion. The dungeon is a part of this world, it’s open. We know from the stories of otherworlders that there are diffferent kinds of dungeons but in most cases the monsters are compartmentalized and the monsters get stronger the father in you get, and it’s riches only appear within the dungeon. Here, Panvea is part of the dungeon and while the most powerful among them tend to stay close to the dungeon core there is no stratified system that governs them.”

Norton fell to his knees, “We could be killed at any time, I’m going to die, stupid Debbie is going to be promoted, this sucks.” He was on the verge of a mental breakdown. One minute we had all been doing whatever it was and the next were on an alien world and tasked with clearing this dungeon. It made the head spin. David couldn’t blame his old friend for reacting like that.

Jessie just stood in silent thought.

“Come, let’s head to the village. There you can eat and rest. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Clamis turned away and began to lead the three of them to his village.

“I said no! NO!” David couldn’t react in time as Norton rushed Clamis. Clamis only had time to raise his brows in surprise as the hulk of a man slammed into him. The both went rolling down. There was the sound of branches breaking. Two of Clamis’s entourage raised pointed spears at us while the third ran after Norton.

David hadn’t planned on fighting. He only did so when he had to. He knew Jessie could throw down as well, but they were basically ordinary humans, their powers didn’t give them many buffs so to speak, but a choice had been made and it would be hard to back down now.

“Please peacefully surrender. We do not want to harm the summoned heroes, but we will if you leave us without choice.” If what Clamis said was accurate then if they were killed new heroes would just take their place, still heroes were sacred to these people they wouldn’t kill except as a last resort. What these people didn’t know was their summoned heroes weren’t heroes.

David backed away slowly for about 10 feet then sprinted into a knee slide right before the soldier who had been speaking could thrust. He jumped to his feet, spun and used the momentum to jab the man in the face with his elbow. He staggered.

The other man seemed to be in a panic and unsure of what to do. Jessie stayed put and watched.

The man David hit stumble for a moment then strangely hit a wall. He turned his back on David and observed the nearly invisible wall. When the sun hit it just right you could just barely make out the sloping shape of it. He tapped it, there was a slight metallic clang. Slowly his eye drifted up to see the clapper.

David and his victim were inside a giant invisible bell.

“They called me Bell Jar. It’s a bit of play on words. I can summon a literal giant bell, you can’t escape it, I can’t escape it. One of us to give up, that’s the condition for escape.”

The clapper began moving on it’s own. It struck the bell sending a wave of vibrations crashing down on the both of them. David’s nails dug into his palm. David’s opponent screamed and covered his ears.

Jessie and her opponent watched as the silent scene played out. It was clear they were talking but it was though someone had muted them. The man he was fighting covered his ears and his mouth opened but there was no sound. David just stood stoically in pace, but it was clear that whatever was happening in there was also affecting him.

“Do you have a name?” She asked.

The man turned his attention back to her and raised his spear, sweat dripped down his cheek.

“I won’t hurt you. What’s your name?”

“Leaf” he replied meekly.

“It’s alright, Leaf. I’m not as hotheaded as those other two. Leaf, I want to ask, is necessary that we defeat the dungeon. Will anything happen if we don’t, I mean.”

Leaf looked around, “I’ve never met any heroes, but I’ve heard that they’re usually excited to go into the dungeon. Umm, I think there one story where one of the summoned refused. He lost his blessing and was killed by a monster.”

“This seems like a dangerous place to live.” Her lips began to pull into a smile but she stopped herself, “So, there is no consequence for you or your people, yes?”

“No, yes, not that I’ve heard.”

“Right, and it seems as though we weren’t blessed but these gods you worship, we have no blessing to lose.”

“But” his eyes drifted to his superior. At the same time a red and beige man fell out of the sky and landed on the ground.

“They were like this before being summoned. We have our own powers.”

“We?” Before he knew it, Leaf was within her reach. She slowly lowered his spear by grabbing his hand. He didn’t see the subtle aura coming off it. Her eyes took on a slight glow.

Leaf began to grow dizzy, he dropped his spear, soon his knees became wobbly and he fell to the ground. Jessica released his hand. He skin was shining thanks to his life energy, one wouldn’t be remiss in thinking she was an angel or a goddess with the amount of holy aura she was exuding.

“See, that didn’t hurt, did it. I promised, right?” She smiled. Leaf was on the verge of fainting from her beauty.

The bell broke into pieces and David stumbled out. His opponent laid out on the ground bruised and bloodied but probably not dead.

“Why’d you two go so easy on them?” Norton complained.

“Idiot.” Jessie

“WHAT WAS THAT? MY HEARING IS FUCKED RIGHT NOW!”

Jessie sighed into her hands.

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Del watched them on his monitor.

Sign came up behind him.

“Hey, Del, how’s it hanging?”

“I don’t know.”

“You send in those new heroes? Got high hopes?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying something new.”

“Something new, huh. Well, I’m sure this’ll be the one. But don’t be too upset if they don’t make it.

“…” Del just continued staring at the screen.

“Alrighty, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yeah.” Sign tapped him on the shoulder and continued on his way.

Del wasn’t sure what the group would do next or what there powers had been or even their personalities. He’d just pulled a random team of super powered individuals from a planet of them. He hadn’t looked too hard.

In the end their character didn’t matter as long as they cleared the dungeon, still they were a bit more eccentric than expected.

He rubbed his eyes.

It was risky sending them in without any blessings, but that was the point. This was experiment to see what effect the dungeon would have on people who naturally had power.

He would just continue to observe, but maybe, just maybe…

Only time would tell.