“The nine seasons are: Thaw, Calm, Rain, Grow, Harvest, Burn, Storm, Recede, and Freeze.”

  -Children's Primer

  ==Zidaun==

  It was mid afternoon before we started to leave.

  Late in the night, I was awoken by the unmistakable sprouting of a new dungeon, ringing through me like a song echoing between cliff walls. I promptly reported the details, then went back to sleep.

  Morning had seen the inevitable bustle of preparations, the Adventurer's Guild preparing for our initial scouting and trek to the location. And, just as invariably, I had been called in to answer questions I couldn’t answer. At least not to the level of detail the bureaucrats wanted.

  “Yes, the dungeon is mostly to the south, though also a bit to the east. Feels like it is in the Lances somewhere.

  “No, I cannot give you too many details. I’m just getting a general feeling. I’ll have to follow the reverberations and get closer.

  “No, I don’t know if we’ll have to climb high up into the mountains.

  “Yes, I know the mountains are disputed territory.”

  Even if no one actually cares about anything besides the pass.

  “No, I don’t know it is closer to our side of the border or not.”

  Not that it matters to me. They wouldn’t dare to kill an Adar. And scout parties are generally sacrosanct as well, so my companions should be safe enough. As long as they don’t do something particularly egregious, not that they would.

  Well, I would do my best to protect them anyway. I didn’t really understand human tribalism, except perhaps in my feelings for my party. Humans could change sides on a whim, or endure to their death.

  Unpredictable.

  I suppose we might seem the same. Well… we are perfectly predictable, if you know what drives us. We don’t reveal our motivations much.

  Adar took the instinctive bonds we all had for granted. Most of us anyway. I loved my people… in moderation. My duty was to be of use, however, and so I served as a Seeker. A new dungeon was exactly why I was here. I lived, so I served, how else could my people exist?

  Now, finally, I was in middle of packing. Trekking through wild mountains was always an experience. Half tedium, and half natural glory. Most will wish it was closer to civilization. If it’s Awakened, I suppose, it might be better for it to be farther from the humans.

  Even without my duty, I was drawn to dungeons. That, at least, I shared with my people. It was natural for us, like leaves reaching toward the light.

  And I loved the journey. It would be long and cold, sure; it was Freeze, that was to be expected. There was no telling what we would find when we got there. Which was the source of my excitement, the little seed of joy in my heart. It was why I was allowing myself to get distracted from my packing too. Not like I couldn’t do that in my sleep by now, anyway.

  Most likely, it was just a newborn dungeon. They were relatively common and I had already seen the emergence of several of those. Those were simple and rough, just an idea beginning to take form. And if that was all it was I would give it a gift and move on after documenting its progression. The humans would take over from there, unless I or another Adar felt it grow unstable. It would almost certainly be a decade before a new dungeon became something of true worth to anyone, and that was on the low end of the scale.

  Hopefully not one of types that the humans would suppress.

  That destruction didn’t bother the Adar, much. Dungeons were sacred ground, carrying the spark of divinity, but they needed time to grow into their full power. And sometimes, when they were young, they went down unproductive, or universally harmful, paths. Some of them chose dead end paths, growing unstable and breaking all on their own. Breaking the core would simply have it return, many years later, wiser and more likely to make a better choice.

  Until they Awaken, and spark has become a raging fire.

  However, there was always the possibility that the dungeon would be something special. When a dungeon emerged from hibernation, it could be spectacular. Ancient wonders regrown with blistering speed.

  And would this dungeon be awakened?

  I didn’t know, but I smiled as I imagined. Would I come into the presence of true divinity? The consequences, well they were not under my control. I will serve. Adar carried a spark of that fire, and I lingered on that feeling. The steady glow of worship, like sunlight piercing through green waters.

  I sighed, once more brought back to my packing. My hands, a soft brown, broken by lines of verdant green, blurred together as I continued the familiar motions. Knives, heat and light stones, an oiled canvas tent cover, basic cooking utensils, several message tubes, clothes, and all the rest found themselves checked and then neatly packed. Everything was soon ready, and I bore the weight of the pack as I moved out of the room.

  I left the Adar section of the guildhall, to the meeting room assigned for us to gather together.

  Inda was already there, waiting and ready, when I arrived. Her blonde hair stood out amidst the dark brown tones of the room. Dark wooden walls, dark wooden furniture, and slightly paler leather on the seats.

  I walked in and gave her a little wave and a smile before I placed my pack next to hers and then sat in a chair next to hers.

  “Well at least you are on time,” she said, returning my smile. Her eyes gazed critically at the empty doorway. She sighed… “Doesn’t anybody else realize we need to get going? They don’t even have your excuse. What time did you feel it.”

  I smiled and shook my head. I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again and answering.

  “Late. I didn’t bother to look at the time. I knew I would need the sleep, so I just got it over with. Not that it stopped the questions this morning. At least as the party leader there wasn’t a need for one of you to stand around uselessly while they asked me questions. Not that I could answer theirs with any detail.”

  She shook her head. “Even less of an excuse for them, then, if you can make it on time.”

  I shrugged.

  “I suppose. Firi is probably done already,” I said, “he probably just stopped to pray. He is, technically, one of the clergy with his class. Maybe he visited the orphanage, too. And Gurek… well he has family to visit. You might know better than I.”

  Inda blushed slightly, trying to hide it.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Well you have family here, too, right?” I said, keeping my face innocent.

  “Oh, uh, yes, of course.”

  I laughed.

  “Ha, don’t think the fact you two have been eyeing each other has gone unnoticed.”

  She spluttered, “No, I don’t… I mean we haven’t even done anything yet.”

  There was a small pause.

  “He’s been eyeing me?”

  “Yes!” I blurted, almost shouting, with mirth tracing through. “Firi and I are about ready to start placing bets. The two of you seem oblivious though…”

  Inda was about to reply, then she took a deep breath, calming visibly, before her eyes narrowed.

  “Well, what about you and Firi?” she said, an eyebrow arched.

  I sighed.

  “I want a real relationship, and that just isn’t possible.”

  She winced.

  “Sorry for bringing it up.”

  I waved it away, shaking my head.

  “I brought it on myself, teasing you. In all seriousness however, what about your family, did you get a chance to see them?”

  She nodded, “I stayed the night with them. The messenger came this morning to the estate.”

  I grimaced. “Ah, how did they take it?”

  Inda shrugged, “About the same.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  She waved her hand dismissively, her lips quirking slightly in a smile.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “No, not really. Just the same thing repeated enough to make me sick, even if they tend to be more oblique about it now. They understand, after all, what it is to be an adventurer, it’s just…”

  The conversation was cut short by the arrival of Firi himself. His wide frame barely fit through the door, particularly with the additional furs. The furs obscured the defined musculature hidden beneath. Still, even with the bulk, sections of the muscle were hinted at in way the fur rippled as he moved, and highlighting small sections outlined in the melting remnants of snow.

  He flashed a smile at us both, which I returned.

  “I would apologize for being late, but it looks like I’m here before Gurek. Or did he already arrive, and just step out?”

  Firi looked around the room absently, as though Gurek would pop out from behind a table.

  Inda scowled at the air.

  “We wouldn’t be so fortunate,” she said lowly, then her glare snapped to Firi. “And, just because you are not the last person to arrive, does not mean you are on time, Firi!”

  Firi rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly, making his cheeks dimple. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a growing sound of feet as they pounded down the hallway.

  With a faint thump as he hit the side of the doorway and bounced off, Gurek scrabbled his way into the room.

  Hard to believe he is the most agile of us.

  “Sorry, sorry! I couldn't find where my ration packs got off to for the life of me; it took me forever to track them down. And then Mother got teary eyed about the goodbye, you know how she is. I’m lucky she didn’t try to send me off with leftovers.” Gurek’s eyes turned more serious for a moment. “And before I left, here at the guildhall this morning…”

  He trailed off, and Inda filled the silence.

  She scowled, “Considering that your room is as hazardous as a dungeon, I am not surprised. One of these days something is going to come to life in there. Honestly, Zidaun was the one raised in a swamp, not you.”

  “Leave me out of this if you would,” I said lightly, before smirking “besides, we maintain the swamp quite well, so not a great comparison.”

  The gentle sound of bickering accompanied us out of the guild hall and onto the streets.

  Asmund greeted us with all its usual combination of glory and mundanity. The streets were full of slush and snow, half melted and trickling slowly through gaps in the cobblestone. The great dome over the city, kept the city bearable, and habitable, by keeping in the heat. Its presence was betrayed by a faint shimmering in the air.

  We trekked out of the city, past the walls and a few miles more, until we were at the edge of the dome. There, some stables were by the road. The barrier passed right through the building, leaving half outside.

  It took us only a few moment to enter and provide identification, expected as we were.

  “The slogi are prepped and ready for you, just need your chits,” the handler said.

  I gave over the chits for them, after fetching them from my furs.

  “Okay, you are good to go. Head through the barrier into the back and head out.”

  We did, each of us proceeding through the shimmering barrier after saying a different command word. The air turned bitterly cold as I passed through the tingling barrier, but the heat stones embedded in my furs grew warm in response to the command, and we soon entered the stables proper.

  Slogi, huge and furry, with their own magics for traveling in this weather, were ideal mounts, but they had to be kept in the proper conditions during Freeze, or they would lose their coats. Other groups of slogi, not coming with us, slept together in great mounds of fluffy white fur, blending into the snow that was heaped up around them.

  The slogi had saddles, complete with saddle bags, waiting for us, though I knew that the majority of the supplies within were just dried meat for our carnivorous mounts. Burn through a lot of food when they are active in this cold. We each mounted a slogi, first stopping and letting them sniff our palms, their intelligent eyes large and focused. Once that was done, we brought them outside.

  The wind blew past, chill enough to explode freeze the air in our lungs without our Cold Resistance skills. At our direction, they took off into the snow, Asmund behind us, and an unknown dungeon waiting.

  ==Tarrae==

  I had been thoroughly enjoying my family breakfast when the summons came from the guildhall. The summons was labeled urgent, but it still took time to extricate myself from various relatives, especially the younger ones. My nieces and nephews, upon seeing it, had started jabbering questions about what was so important. It wasn’t like I could answer; I didn’t even know yet. My rolled eyes did little to stop their enthusiasm. Some of them even followed me as I put on my heavy furs, a few latching onto my legs as I moved.

  My brothers and sisters just smiled fondly, watching with amused eyes at my predicament. Mother fussed about me, correcting defects in my hair and clothes that only mothers seemed able to see. Earlier she had been asking when I was going to get married, but now, ritual grooming complete, she just gave me a swift hug. Father was more practical, grinning and rolling his eyes while she fussed.

  “He’ll be back to pack, even if he has to leave,” he said. “Now let him get on with it.”

  “Fine, but I’m his mother, it’s my job to worry,” she said, stepping back and giving me a critical look once again.

  What she thought she might see, wrapped as I was in dense furs, I couldn’t say.

  “Thanks Father,” I said gratefully, flashing him a smile.

  With only minor difficulty, I managed to pry off the few children who had clamped on and buried their faces into the soft furs on my leg.

  Finally free of passengers, I was able to exit through the thick inner door and make my escape, firmly shutting the inner door behind me. Even with the doors shut, behind and ahead, I could already feel a noticeable change in temperature. I opened the outer door, quickly shutting it behind me. No use in letting any warmth escape.

  I took a breath, air crackling in my lungs.

  Too cold for the kids out here. Maybe it will be warm enough later, so they can go outside without damaging themselves.

  In front of me, the city of Soamana stretched out in the early morning. The city continued in tiered steps downward, just as it went up behind me. I turned, following the terraced street that ran in curving parallel to the others. The base of everything was solid stone, the patterns matching flowing where they had been carved from the canyon walls long ago. Small imperfections, where the patterns didn’t quite match up, showed where repairs had been performed with less than perfect skill. Up near the top, I could see the poorer districts, where they were highly exposed to the extremes of the weather, even with the slightly angled cliff face above them.

  Cold there will be even worse, away from the river.

  I looked around as I walked, the merchant and craftsman districts on each side and below. I stamped my feet to get blood flowing. My back was to the noble district and the Imperial Grotto, headed east. In front of me lay my destination, the most powerful guilds. They lay sheltered by the canyon walls, the arc of the carved city reaching back inward, the stone towering above them. They lay in an alcove, right before the stone returned to uncarved cliff faces, and the city ended. The Adventurer's Guild was there, waiting for me.

  I hurried to the east. Cold Resistance not withstanding, I was was more than eager to get out of the chill air. A few more years and some of the kids will have a high enough level of that not to worry about damaging their lungs, even when it’s like this. The paths were sparsely trafficked for now, the early morning deeply shadowed, and I ignored what few people traveled the terraced streets. Homes and storefront entrances, flush with the stone, were closed, with only a few exceptions. A nearby bakery already smelled heavenly, but they would have been baking already for hours. Most of the stores would start to open soon, though none would be using the space outside until well after the start of Thaw. Some would probably wait even later. Well… maybe some of the enchantment stores will showcase their heat stones again, in the icy weather. The banishment of the chill was more than a sufficient demonstration of their effectiveness.

  I’d buy the little rascals one, but it would just stunt their skill growth. And I couldn’t afford to buy one for all of them, anyway. Plus, with how rough they can get with their toys…

  The canyon wall, on the side opposite the city, offered little to see; it was covered by shadows. A small part of the Maw’s burning ring was visible as a red curve above canyon walls, but the sun remained unseen for now. I could faintly hear the river Rawimi, far below, as it continued its eternal flow. Even in Thaw, it never froze. Faint wisps of steam from its warmth just reached the bottom of the city, making it seem that the city overlooked a river of fog, rather than normal water.

  Eventually, the flat entrance to the guildhall lay before me in the stone. I entered promptly, glad to be out of the cold. I paused only briefly to leave my outer furs with the clerk. The extra heat wouldn’t hurt me, but this way I would be comfortable. Not like that level of overheating would make a difference to my Heat Resistance, either. I made my way through the halls, up stairs, and down paths carved deep within the cliff, until I reached the guildmaster’s office. His secretary nodded his head at me, quickly ushering me in.

  Four strangers, and the guildmaster himself, glanced my way. Three of them were sitting in chairs across from the guildmaster’s desk, where he was also seated. An empty chair waited for me in a line with the three others, and the last person stood to the side of the guildmaster in fine robes, an impatient expression on his face.

  I opened my mouth to apologize for arriving last, but guildmaster Manja just cut me off with a raised hand and gestured to the remaining empty seat.

  “Good, you’re here,” she said, “then we will begin. First, introductions:” she pointed her hand at the standing man.

  “The honored Imperial Representative, Ndrivo.” The man, hints of gold and silver glittering in his robes with his slight motion, opened his mouth, though it abruptly shut with a frown as Manja continued.

  “Adar Seeker, Anaath.” The Adar nodded, his brown yellow bark-skin and hair of long green backward facing thorns, making clear that he was from the Sunken Citadel, in the desert to the south.

  “And the next three are members of the guild.”

  “Soara.” A tall thin man. “Norana.” A woman, her muscles heavily defined and her brown hair cut short. “And Tarrae.”

  We each nodded to the others.

  “Good, now that we have that out of the way, I can tell you why you are here. Adar Anaath came to me and informed me of a dungeon awakening several hours ago. Usually, we have a team for this, but they are already on a dungeon dive. Their Adar won’t be able to feel the new dungeon from there; it would take them too long to return even if we sent them a message now. Usually we would wait, but… well circumstances are what they are. You four are going to replace them.

  “Anaath will lead you to the entrance, minimizing what danger he can. Obviously, he is also the Adar representative. Unfortunately, we have no idea what to expect. It is likely that it will be a new dungeon and have minimal danger, but you will need to sort out your roles as you travel and prepare for the eventuality that it is a re-emergent dungeon.

  Ndrivo will cover why we are not just waiting. Ndrivo?”

  “Hrm,” he coughed, “yes. Anaath has provided us with his best guess on the location of the new dungeon. Unfortunately, it is in a politically inconvenient location. It is in the Lances, near the eastern side. Since the entire mountain range is meant to be neutral territory between us and the Froans it could become somewhat tricky.”

  He scowled a little.

  “If the dungeon has an entrance that is accessible to only one party, then we will either claim it solely, or allow the Froans to take possession. However, if we both have access… it is imperative that Tsary stakes its own claim. If it is a new dungeon, then the claim over the dungeon itself is of negligible importance for the moment. Adventurers might be incentivized more than usual to delve it, keeping it more stable.

  “However, access to another pass through the mountains is of paramount importance.” The man’s expression looked like he bit into something sour for a moment. “Oh, also. Be polite to any team from Froa, we do not want to have an incident. If both countries have access, report that right away. A diplomatic team will be prepared as soon as you provide details on how they can make the journey safely. If a diplomatic envoy from Froa appears first, inform them that their counterparts will be arriving soon and that you have no power to make any deals.”

  Manja nodded before speaking, “Time is of the essence. Go along the east canyon road to the Wither Salt Flats. Mounts will be provided for you at the end of the canyon road. From there, head north to the Lances as Anaath directs you. Prepare for an extended trip and for high altitude.

  “Go. Gather what you need and meet back here in three hours. Don’t worry about magical communication and survival gear. Those, and the best map we can find, will be provided. Team leader is Tarrae. Dismissed!”