Matthew didn’t expect that the Black Tower headquarters would be a literal black tower. Situated in England’s countryside, near the border with Scotland, the headquarters was a huge medieval tower made of pitch black rocks as if it came out of a fairy tale.The top of the tower held a large purple stone that shone bright, giving the tower an eerie atmosphere. The body of the construction had few windows which were covered with black glass. Moss grew on the stones and bird nests could be seen here and there.
But it didn’t look abandoned. The huge front gate was open and many people came and went inside the tower.
Security around it was tight. As tight as their laboratory in Southport.
Ffyr, Tina, Erin and Helen came with Matthew. Faralynn had to deal with the school affairs, things that only her, as the head of the house, could do.
Mia stayed behind, saying she wanted to focus on her studies. But Matthew felt the real reason was because of their conversation the morning after the duel.
Vanessa and Eric didn’t want to go away from Katia for too long, since they already were away for a bit when they went into the Deep Backcountry dungeon.
Sarah wanted to focus on leveling up.
Paula just didn’t want to go, it was winter in the Northern Hemisphere and it was snowing in England. Michael decided to stay by Tylith who was in Abule talking about faith, God, demons and angels with Father Oluwafemi.
Tina gave them a tour of the public areas of the Tower and then of the areas she had access to while the Tower’s vice leader was dealing with another business. In the absence of the Sage, he was acting as the de facto leader of the guild and had many businesses to attend, since the Black Tower was the biggest research guild in the world.
When he was finally ready, they were guided by a sharply dressed hobbit woman to the leader’s office.
Matthew entered the room to find an old hobbit man, bald on the top of the head, with white long wavy hair. He wore a black wizard hat which hid his baldness, a black robe covering a gray business suit, a white shirt with a red tie and carried a lavish black staff adorned with ruby gems all over it.
He walked fast for his age. His bare hairy feet made no sound against the black marble on the ground. He extended his hand to shake Matthew’s and the others.
"Hello there. My name is Elddoc Wisefoot. Vice-leader of the Black Tower. It’s a pleasure meeting you." He said politely.
"I’m Matthew." He answered, looking at the small man closely.
Hobbits were just like Tolkien described them in his books. Small and plump, hairy feet and jolly faces. Some people theorized that Tolkien met some or saw them in dreams before writing his books. Others say the opposite, that Hobbits were born from the writer’s imagination and made real by some deity.
Hobbits themselves lived on a planet simply called The Shire, in honor of the book. They didn’t call themselves Hobbits, but simply men. Their native language was a form of English, either a predecessor of the language or a variation of it. They had many words that sounded the same, like wise, foot, bag...
Their writing system was completely different, they used letters that resembled more nordic runes than the latin alphabet.
They also lived just like Tolkien described, in homes dug inside mounds.
When the first contact happened with them when a gate to their planet opened in Birmingham, the comparison with Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books was inevitable. The Hobbits themselves were amazed upon learning about the literature. Those books became widely read in their planet and some even started to believe the events described there to be true.
Elddoc sat with them on the couches spread out in the room and served them some biscuits and tea.
He asked them about how the climate was in their country. How their flight went. How they were dealing with the English winter. He was very pleasant and receptive and ate biscuits like it was popcorn.
His secretary, the hobbit woman that led them there, soon came back in with cake and coffee for them all.
Elddoc talked as if they were there on a simple social visit.
"Er... Sir?" Tina finally spoke up while the hobbit picked up his second slice of cake. "What about the sword?"
"Oh yes yes... You’re right. I had forgotten. Give it to me here." He said, getting up from the couch made for his size and extending his hand.
Tina took Orpheu’s sword out of her inventory and handed it to the vice-leader.
"I remember this one." He laughed while sitting down and examining the weapon in his hands. "Bia made us put all our efforts into making this one. When she said she was going to give it to a man in another country, everyone went nuts." He laughed more. "Even the king called her asking her not to give it away like that."
He took some time looking at the blade closely.
"She even brought in the Saintess and the Northern Star to help produce it." Elddoc said moving the blade carefully from side to side, very close to his eyes. "It’s even more impressive than I remember."
"Grand Wizard Donavan said there’s additional engravings on the sword." Tina said using her boss’ title in the guild.
"Yes, yes. I read his findings." Elddoc dismissed her and stored the sword in his own inventory. "I’ll check it all later. But first, boy..." He turned to Matthew. "Tell me every detail you can remember from your fight with the Northern Star’s simulacrum."
Matthew recounted the tale of his dungeon diving from the beginning. Elddoc just listened in silence. The only sound he made was when he occasionally picked up a biscuit to eat.
"Very interesting." He exclaimed when Matthew finished his story. "I believe Donovan is right. Bia sent the sword to us to send a message." Elddoc rubbed his chin in deep thought.
The room was silent for the first time since they came in.
"How long do you plan to stay in England?" Elddoc asked finally.
"At least a week. Maybe more." Erin was the one to answer.
"Good. Good." Elddoc smiled and stood up. "I’ll start studying the sword right away. I’ll call you when I find something worth of note." He opened the door for them. "Thank you all for coming. I hope you enjoy your stay."
The next week was fun. Ffyr had a blast traveling around England and Scotland and seeing so many things she never saw before.
When Elddoc didn’t contact them by the end of the week, Erin decided to extend the trip to her home country, Ireland.There she personally showed them all the touristic points and the streets of Dublin.
After the end of the next week, Elddoc contacted them through Tina. He apologized for the delay, the engravings took much longer to decrypt than expected. But there was good news that needed to be discussed in the Tower.
They took the first plane back to England.
"First." Elddoc said, back in his office and munching on cupcakes. "Our assumptions were correct. Bia sent the sword and the simulacrum to the Deep Backwater gate. The information she sent through the sword doesn’t explain why she didn’t just send them to Earth. But she does explain how to build a beacon so that she can find her way back to Earth." The old wizard said with his eyes focused on the pastry in front of him.
"That’s great news." Tina smiled.
"But that leads us to the second point. The materials we need are not easy to come by. Meaning we can’t just buy them in the market." Eldooc turned to Matthew. "We’re assembling a party to dive into the dungeon where we can find the Auricite we need."
"Auricite?" Matthew asked.
"It’s a crystal. A mineral that is not found in the Prime Realm." Tina explained. "We know very little about it. But it holds mana much better than normal mana crystals."
"Where can we find it?" Erin questioned. Not even her, whose family owned many mines around the universe, have heard of it.
"We got plenty of those back home." Ffyr mentioned nonchalantly.
"What?" Tina exclaimed and looked at Matthew.
"She means the Chaos Realm." He explained.
"Precisely." Elddoc smiled. "Auricite has only ever been found in the Fae Realm. But getting there is complicated. Not that it is hard to get there. But the Fae Realm is dangerous."
"You just don’t know how to have fun." Ffyr protested.
"Nonetheless." Elddoc ignored the fairy. "There is a much safer place to get the Auricite. A dungeon in Mexico. It’s a generative dungeon called The End of Days." His tone was somber for the first time.
The hobbit grabbed another cupcake from the coffee table and ate it in silence.
Matthew and the others looked at each other waiting for Elddoc to continue.
"You might be wondering why I’m telling you this." The hobbit finally spoke. "The reason is simple. The party feels that we should invite you to the dungeon. Your level is high enough and since you’re the one who actually got the sword back to us... They all feel that is right to allow you to see it through."
"But it’s ok if you don’t want to." Elddoc’s secretary added, getting in the room with a bunch of papers and setting them on the desk.
"Depends. When?" Matthew asked.
"In two days." The secretary said.
"What’s the dungeon level?" Erin asked.
"It varies. Honestly depends on the party that goes in. We’re aiming for levels 20 up." The secretary said, clearly more in contact with the details than Elddoc.
"Can we go with Matt?" Helen asked. "The three of us are level 20."
"Of course!" Elddoc smiled. "The more the merrier!"
"Sir!" The secretary admonished him.
"You’ll find space in the budget." He dismissed her concerns waving his hand. "Is Miss Finnegan going to?"
"I am." Erin said.
"Me too." Tina added. "I want to see the auricite up close."
"You heard them." Elddoc turned to his secretary. "Prepare the papers and all that nonsense. And don’t forget to bring in some hot chocolate."
The secretary guided Matthew and the others to another room where she gave them the details for the quest.
Another generative dungeon, just like The Castle of Novak where the whole thing with Orpheu started, Matthew thought. The End of Days was an ominous name. But for someone who lived 2 years in hell, he’d already seen the end of days.