Content warning:


    Blood.


    On a colossal tree branch, crouched among giant leaves, a woman silently waited for her prey to arrive. As big as these leaves were—they were larger than her, in fact—the gaps among them still threatened to reveal her position. To compensate for this, she covered her armor in leaves and vines, and masked her scent with pungent herbs.


    She had even been careful about camouflaging her silver-furred ears, which stood tall out of the holes in her helmet, occasionally flicking in various directions to pick up sounds. Her left ear was missing its tip and a piece along its outer edge—old wounds.


    She held a spear in her right hand, hand-carved from bone, and a vital tool she carried at all times when outside of her home, along with a bone sword sheathed on her waist. She held the end of a rope in her left hand, ready to activate the trap once her prey was in position. Her fingers were clawed as well—her last resort weapon.


    As she patiently waited, her silver eyes drifted again toward the carefully prepared trap. She’d had to use a little of her food for this purpose, but this was important, and she didn’t need much anyway. The huntress felt it would work out this time—Tyche had bellowed today.


    The sun had risen by now, its light filtering through the trees as a breeze rustled the leaves. The morning song of the birds was nearing its end, a welcome relief to the huntress’ hearing. A particularly resonant bird had perched itself on a nearby branch today.


    Eventually, she heard it—the sound of her prey scrabbling up the tree. Soon after, her nose caught a whiff of its peculiar sharp scent. Her eyes narrowed and her grip around the rope tightened. Her fluffy silver tail twitched slightly in anticipation, but her control over it was too practiced to allow anything more than that.


    A large lemur crept its way up the tree’s behemothic trunk, keeping an eye out for the wolven huntress. The creature’s eyes and ears darted around cautiously, and upon deeming it safe, it stepped out into the open.


    The lemur, much larger than a bear, darted for a fruit hanging from a specific branch. The huntress smiled—she had scented this branch’s fruit to seem more appetizing to the creature.


    The creature plucked the fruit and immediately took a large hungry bite, then several more, and the fruit was soon devoured. It then ate a second, and had started on its third when it began retching, and the huntress knew it was time.


    She gave the rope a sharp tug, and the carefully disguised packets she’d placed along the branch all burst open, blasting the lemur with a pungent, but otherwise harmless, odor. It screeched and moved to attack. She flung an air bullet at its face, stunning it while she leapt to her feet with her spear at the ready. It prepared a spell to fire rocks at her, but upon recognizing its attacker, it fled. The stones it’d been levitating clattered to the ground.


    “For the last time, stay away from this tree, you brat!” she yelled.


    The lemur always got sick after eating this tree’s poisonous fruit.


    It will finally learn this time, right?


    The huntress stretched, giving a relieved groan after having been crouched for so long. She then began leaping from giant tree to giant tree as she made her way back to her cliffside home with plans to make a smoothie.


    But then she heard something unfathomable—a scream.


    A human scream.


    That’s impossible…!


    She rushed toward the sound, wreathing her body in wind to fly. The wind pulled all the plant material off her, revealing a brutal, black set of armor. The pieces had jagged, misshapen edges, and every part of it was covered in scratches, gouges, and spell damage.


    A battle was happening nearby, so she leapt from the tree, observing as she descended. A group of five armored people were defending themselves against the very lemur she’d just driven off.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    “My EE’s not working!”


    “Mine isn’t-” a woman’s response was interrupted as she dodged, “-either!”


    “We need a physical-based strategy!”


    “He’s is bleeding out!”


    Everyone’s armor was heavily scraped up, beaten, and covered in blood stains—far more than what could’ve occurred in this fight alone, and one member of the group was lying on the ground with a massive dent in his chest.


    The four who could still move were struggling to fend off the lemur while defending their dying teammate, and gradually failing. The lemur, still furious from its encounter with the huntress, was firing magically-enhanced rocks at the group, faster and stronger than bullets. It occasionally fired off flashes of light as well, somewhat blinding the people.


    Two people in the group were taking cover behind a giant tree root with their dying teammate. One of them had a gun and was taking the occasional shot. The one wearing gold, knight-like armor was alternating between trying to help the person on the ground and touching something on his wrist while a drone hovered around him. The remaining two were facing the lemur more directly, one with a sword in each hand, and the other with a hammer.


    I’m not the last person alive!


    The huntress landed on the ground several long seconds later, dropping a great torrent of water on the lemur at the same time. It whipped around and screeched angrily at her again.


    The two longtime acquaintances stared at each other. “Piss off,” she told it, her hand crackling threateningly with lightning. It slowly backed away, then darted into the bushes, but not before giving another furious hiss.


    Once the creature was gone, the person with two swords rushed to their downed teammates side and said, “Greater heal.” Nothing happened, so she tried again, “Greater heal! …Minor heal, come on!”


    The whole group gave wary stares to the huntress when she started walking over.


    They’re all so short! What are children doing here?!


    Ignoring their gazes, she knelt down and held a hand over the injured person. Dark red blood was leaking profusely from his chest, and smelled much more strongly of iron than she expected. A green light emanated from her hand, rapidly pushing out the large rock embedded in it, closing the wound, and regenerating missing flesh, which was gray with a rough, rocky texture.


    “How did she do that without chanting…?” someone behind her muttered.


    The now-healed man coughed a bit and tried to sit up.


    “Stay down,” the huntress told him, gently pushing him back to the ground. “Your wounds are fully healed, but you’ve still got sharp bits of your armor digging into your flesh. Just hold on for a minute.”


    She carefully pulled and bent all the offending pieces of armor outward. “You should probably wear something less flimsy,” she commented.


    “Flimsy!?” He retorted.


    Yep, he’s completely fine now.


    Satisfied with her work, the huntress stood up and could finally get a good look at the group. They all had different types of armor, and the one in gold seemed to be presenting himself as the leader. But most importantly, none of them were actually human.


    The gold-armored one had furry ears sticking out of his helmet and what looked to be a lion tail, the one she healed had skin that looked like stone, another had a scaly, feathered tail, one had a mushroom cap of sorts atop her head, and the last one had antennae and wings.


    Did they used to be human, too? They aren’t wolves like myself, though…


    From the drone and the gun, she could tell they were technologically advanced, at least. The insect woman with dual swords grabbed another drone off the ground and stored it in her pack. The drone still flying around looked much more robust, and even had gold accents.


    Technology…! So the modern world still exists, then! And I’m not the last person alive!


    Centering her thoughts, Lauren spoke, “Now, tell me. Where are your parents? This is not a place for children to be playing around in.”


    “You think we’re children…?” The mushroom woman with the hammer asked. “Though, you are quite tall…”


    “You’re too small to be adults. Unless people have gotten shorter in the past couple decades.”


    The one with the lion tail removed his helmet, revealing a blonde man with a well-maintained beard. In his hand was a longsword, which he seemed to be itching to use. The one she had healed was standing next to him, looking tense. “I’m an adult, as you can see. This is neither the time nor the place to play games.” He put his helmet back on. “Help us get somewhere safe until our EEs are working again. And then you will explain why you’re here without permission.”


    She blinked, not expecting them to be adults, and having no idea what an EE was.


    Ahh, that’s right. I had that sudden growth spurt a long time ago.


    The huntress gave a slow nod. “Follow me.”


    She leapt into the treetops once again, and the group was several seconds behind. Passing the fruit tree, she saw the brat there yet again, reaching for more poisonous fruit. “Oh, come on, you little jerk! I have to deal with you three times in one day? Really?”


    She conjured and shot another large torrent of water at the lemur, and threw her spear at it for good measure. She used her magical connection with the spear to control its flight, making sure it would only threaten the creature, not actually kill it. It immediately scurried away, and the huntress summed her spear back into her hand, shaking her head in annoyance.


    The insect woman was stunned. “How did you do that?!”


    “The thing with the spear?” the huntress asked. Getting a nod in return, she replied, “I just… control it?”


    After a shocked silence, the lion man asked, “Why didn’t you kill it? You clearly have the power to do so.”


    “Because I don’t need or want to.”


    He scoffed. “What’s the point of an Explorer who refuses to kill?”


    She stopped and looked at him with sheer confusion. “Even when it’s not necessary…?”


    The man returned her baffled stare with a stern one. “It’s necessary to make sure people are safe.”


    She returned his stare. “I strongly disagree.”


    The conversation died, so they continued on. They arrived at a cliff, and the huntress pushed aside some vines, revealing a path upward.


    “Are those stairs…?” the mushroom woman asked.


    The huntress looked back at her. “What else would they be?”


    She shook her head. “I mean, who takes the time to build stairs in a Dungeon? They won’t last long.”


    “I’m not sure what you mean.”


    The lion man interrupted. “Why have you not reported your presence here to the Explorer’s Association?”


    “I have no idea what that is,” she honestly replied.


    “Don’t lie. You’re on camera, after all,” he pointed at his drone.


    The huntress sighed and removed her helmet, revealing a face with several scars. Her eyes and wild mane of hair were silver like the fur on her ears and tail. The insect woman gave her an odd look.


    “On January twenty-third, two thousand twenty-four, this place opened up beneath my apartment. I’ve been here ever since. I have no idea what the Explorer’s Association or an EE is. Since you called this place a Dungeon, I’m guessing you mean like from video games a long time ago, and that the Association is like an Adventurer’s Guild or something.”


    The lion man narrowed his eyes at her, and she narrowed hers back. The significant height difference between them made him look a lot less intimidating. He huffed. “I still don’t believe you, but it’s still safer to go with you. Just know that any lies you tell will be exposed, and you will face legal action for trespassing on a Floor not yet open to the public.”


    “Right…”


    Sounds like bureaucracy’s still a pain in the ass.