He stood in the center of the First Layer, surrounded by monsters that should have been tearing him apart. Instead, they knelt. Stone golems bowed their massive heads. Shadow wolves lay flat on their bellies. A hydra with seven heads lowered all seven in unison, its many eyes fixed on him with something that looked disturbingly like reverence.
The other competitors stared.
"What in the nine hells..." someone began.
"Those are Feral-class monsters," a mage breathed, her staff trembling in her grip. "They don't bow. They don't kneel. They kill everything that moves."
"I don't understand any of this," Kaelen said quietly.
"You will," the dungeon whispered. "Walk. Remember. Become."
Behind him, Captain Edwin pushed through the crowd of frozen competitors. His face was pale, his hand on his sword, his eyes darting between the kneeling monsters and the man they worshipped.
"Kaelen," he said carefully. "What is happening?"
"I don't know."
