Seven people going together into the black sphere, Noah's eyes rounded at the darkness that surrounded, it felt so strange. He looked up and slowly realized that they were now underground. Usually dungeons had their own sky, but not this time, all he could see in the darkness was a faint reddish colored soil.
"It's too dark in here." The voice of one of them rang out, echoes loudly. Noah couldn't see and estimate where they were, but Noah could feel that Abigail was beside him. The scent of the girl's perfume wafted over him.
CLICK. One of them turned on the flashlight that was on their leg and sleeve, of course it came from the uniform they're wearing. One by one they turned on the flashlight including Noah, when the flashlight was lit they were surprised to look around.
The dungeon they entered was unlike any they had ever been to. The size of the dungeon was so narrow with two large white pillars in front of them, it was a long hallway and could only fit three adults if standing side by side. Looking to the front and back they found only darkness.
Noah looked up, as he had expected at the beginning, they were underground. Above his head is really red soil.
"Hey, what are these names?" Asked one of the Esper, he shined his flashlight towards the wall in front of them.
Noah did so too and his eyes widened, the wall was so tall and filled with many scribbled names on each black wall. The names were written on a light blue background with white pen.
They looked up, turned their heads together, stared at the wall and read the names written there. The unfamiliar names left all of them confused. Abigail turned to Noah who was behind her.
"Isn't this the first time we've seen something like this?" The girl asked, her face looking rather pale. Noah lowered his head slightly to look at the girl.
"Yeah, according to Luka this is the first time this dungeon has appeared in this country."
"Previously this dungeon only appeared in Thailand and Singapore." A man not far from them said, making Noah turn his head. The man was wearing an Esper uniform and looked neat, he looked a little older than Noah.
"Lucas." He extended his hand to Noah, the man welcomed it. Noah knew the man of course, he knew all the Espers he had served with, it was just that Noah had a bit of trouble being friendly with people he had only met once or twice.
The man named Lucas with neatly cut light brown hair glanced at Abigail who was still clinging to Noah.
"Is there any additional information regarding this dungeon?" A woman in a different uniform asked, Noah recognized her as Emma. She was one of the guides from a different region to him.
Harper, the female guide with shoulder-length hair not far from Noah took out her floating screen, "Nothing..."
"Nothing?" Noah frowned. He opened his floating screen as well.
There was no information on the dungeon they were currently in. He searched through all the folders, but there was no information that had even been uploaded recently. Some information should have been uploaded since the Esper entered the dungeon, since this portal had appeared twice. This made no sense, why hadn't the government or the guild uploaded anything at all?
It is their responsibility to do, so that the Espers could complete their tasks quickly.
The dungeon felt so cold and somewhat stuffy. Noah felt that there was something wrong with this.
"We'd better walk deeper, it's likely that after that pillar monsters will appear." Noah said then, pointing at the pillar trying not to panic the Esper and Guide inside. He had to finish this task quickly before the time ran out.
Noah looked back as they now walked towards the pillar ahead, the air was cold and a bit stuffy, there was no sky, only a reddish colored soil, the encompassing darkness, the narrow space, it was like...
"This looks like a graveyard..."
Noah turned his head, that's what he had in mind. He finding Abigail's back in front of him, the girl turned to Noah who had now stopped his steps.
Abigail's finger pointed towards the wall, Noah followed the direction of the finger, looked at the wall and a name was written on it, SOPHIA.
"Sophia?"
"My mom... My mom's name..."
The girl was visibly shaking after saying that. Noah looked at the front, the other Esper and Guides had already walked ahead leaving them quite far behind. He held Abigail's shoulder, trying to calm her down.
"Hey, there are many Sophia names in this world. This has nothing to do with you, let's just get out of here and get it over with." Noah said.
They walked again, but Noah looked back, feeling that something was wrong with the dungeon he was in. This dungeon was not in the data, not even the government or other guilds had entered any data about this dungeon.
Seeing Abigail react, Noah remembered that this girl's mother had died a few years ago. But why was this girl trembling just because she saw her mother's name there? Noah walked after Abigail while the other five people were now out of sight, he continued walking and passed through the pillar.
The scene after the pillar surprised him, the blinding light made his eyes squint, going from pitch blackness to light made Noah jump slightly. He raised his hand, blocking the light coming straight into his eyes, the smell of toast and bacon wafting in suddenly. When he opened his eyes, he realized, they were in the middle of a city with many people. Noah stepped back, deftly pulling Abigail's hand. The girl looked surprised and was carried backwards by Noah's pull.
"Senior....This..." Abigail mumbled, her eyes rounded and her mouth half open.
"Mimicry.." Lucas appeared from beside Noah and Abigail, look just as surprised as the two. Looking to the right and left, Noah didn't find the other four people.
"Hey, where are the others?"
Lucas shook his head, "I lost them." He replied, a look of panic on his face.
They were in the middle of the city, where people were bustling about. They standing on a sidewalk in the middle of the city that they recognized, the traffic lights, the shops, everything was familiar.
Noah was still holding Abigail's trembling wrist.
The people passed by and occasionally turned to them. That meant that the people could see them, but unlike the real world, no one in this world knew Noah.
"Are they all monsters?" Asked Abigail, she turned to Noah and Lucas. Her face showed great fear.
Lucas opened his floating screen, he pressed a few buttons on it.
"This is mimicry, they usually imitate something we already recognize and are familiar with. But then again there is no recent data regarding this mimicry. The only dungeon with mimicry never appeared again after thirty years ago when it first appeared." Lucas explained, he was holding his head.
Noah was also hearing this information for the first time, during his stay in the laboratory or in the guild, no one had explained this dungeon. This dungeon had appeared twice in different countries, so why did no one update the information?
"Don't split up, we have to stay close together, to minimize unwanted events. For now, we should walk to find the other four." Noah gave the order, Lucas and Abigail nodded simultaneously.
The smell of the restaurants they passed or even the roadside snack vendors was palpable. Noah was walking and accidentally nudged a man who was walking beside him, he felt the man who then turned to him and continued on his way.
Everything felt real, the smell, the air, what was happening in this mimicry seemed real and this was the first time he had seen anything like this. Abigail held the hem of Noah's uniform from behind, she continued walking after Noah and Lucas.
"It's really a downtown..." Lucas muttered again.
But there were no Esper or Guide in here. What they encountered were just ordinary people, they continued to walk across the street, passing by cafes and other shops.
They stopped their walk under a large shady tree, Noah knew where they were. People were walking past them. Lucas opened his floating screen again, trying to figure it out. Noah pressed the earpiece device perched on his ear, it was to connect the Guide to the outside dungeon and was usually connected directly to their guild center. But not a single signal could be picked up by the device.
Noah looked up, looking at the bluish sky.
It seemed like this dungeon had the power to block signals for communication.
Noah turned to Abigail who was still silent from earlier, the girl looked nervous and frightened.
"Noah.."
A voice made Noah flinch.
"Noah…"
He heard it again, the voice coming from behind. A voice that was deep and cheerful. Lucas turned his head and so did Abigail. Noah's had a goosebumps, he recognized that voice.
"Senior…." Abigail said, she looked up looking at Noah.
Noah was trembling, his Adam's apple up and down with nervousness. He heard the steps approaching.
"Noah…"
The call sounded again, Noah turned his head to find Jayden standing behind him, the man smiling as broadly as ever.