YooJin grunted when his butt hit the ground.

“Where am I?” he mumbled to himself as he stood, groaning and rubbing his tailbone in the process.

His eyes widened as he looked around for his vision was now crowded with hundreds of various plants and flowers, many of which he had never seen before.

His eyes honed in on a particular flower, that looked a lot like a sunflower except… he could clearly see a slumbering face upon its center.

“Oh, you’re here,” came a voice from somewhere behind him.

Startled, YooJin turned to see a man in a white traditional scholar's garb head toward him. He recognized him immediately as the alpha doctor.

“Where am I?” YooJin asked, turning back to look at the strange face once more before looking around again. It was then he noticed that amongst the strange flora were shelves filled with vials of… heads.

“Do not be startled,” the doctor Yoon said with a pleasant smile. “This is the research room. Nao was never very good at directing portals to a particular location. It is a good thing that the infirmary is right next door.”

YooJin nodded before taking several curious steps forward. He walked up to the shelf nearest to him and gazed at the vials. A small, gray, stony head stared back at him from within a glass filled with clear, blue liquid. It looked almost human in a way except it had clear bat-like features, particularly its snout, ears, and fangs.

“A gargouille,” said Yoon as he stepped up beside him. “Or more commonly known as gargoyle.”

“It looks like a statue.”

He nodded. “That is because their flesh hardens, calcifies in a sense, when they perish. You may have heard of them as decorations upon churches and other architectural structures. Many of them are simply stone carvings of gargoyles, grotesque replicas of the monster but some of the originals are hardened remains of real creatures.”

YooJin turned to him in surprise. “Like the statues in the European village.”

“Ah, no, those villages are simple replicas of a small slice of Europe and created only about twenty or so years ago. Those sculptures you see there have been created by local and international artists.

“The gargoyles we know of,” he continued, “that are true remains are, to give a few examples, Plasencia Cathedral of Spain, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower in Italy, and Château de Blain in France. Before this, there are records stating their appearance in the Middle East, and parts of Asia but these cultures simply took the likeness of the creatures and were used to represent various aspects of the cultures. The gargoyles in these Medieval cathedrals were a part of a mass witch hunt by the Catholic church against these monsters that they deemed demons. Hunters during those times mainly worked for the Church and when they found out that the creatures eventually turned to stone, they propped them up against their buildings as a warning, a reminder to stay away from sin.”

The doctor sighed. “There were no unbiased records to state whether they were in fact ‘evil’ since most literature of that time was heavily influenced by the Church. However, there were some secular accounts that commented on their habits of absconding with humans who were never seen again. We have no way of knowing if any of that is true however, since that dungeon has not been opened since and its location never found.”

“What do you mean? How does the dungeon open and disappear?”

“Ah yes,” the doctor nodded. “I should first explain. Dungeon is simply a word used to describe what you experienced in Sunnyday. We don’t really know exactly what it is. Some speculate portals to another galaxy or perhaps another universe. From little that we have come to comprehend, however, is that the monsters in these dungeons have been spotted throughout history and have become part of humanity’s lore - tikbalangs, mermaids, chimeras, kappas, etc. all monsters from dungeons we have identified. Dungeons are simply where these monsters exist and dungeon entrances are portals into their world. Most of these entrances are dormant at any point in time but they do open and that is what wizards are trained to do – control them and put a latching spell on the gates to prevent leaks into our world.”

YooJin’s gaze returned to that of the monster’s. It’s mouth was wide open in what looked to be a scream.

“Dungeons were, throughout all of our history, something to be feared… rarely studied and only understood in terms of how it affects humankind.”

He turned back to look at the doctor, who had a pensive look on his face.

Then the doctor looked up and met his eyes. “TaeHyun said that you manifested as a wizard earlier today and that you not only punched a hole in a foot of concrete but, according to our sources, the skies changed as well. And–” He paused and met his eyes, “You’re an omega.”

YooJin froze.

“It’s very odd, usually mana manifestations are volatile but not to that extent, often it is simply an object being moved from one end of the room to the other or, if they are particularly powerful and can harness a lot of mana, a burst that might shake a house. But, never in the years I’ve been here or of anything I studied did something like what you did ever occur.” 

He peered at him more closely. “You’re not a normal omega.”

YooJin tensed up. He had heard this before from that alpha, there had been surprise in his voice when he too had found that he was an omega. He paused and briefly wondered where exactly that alpha was now. “Why?” he asked the doctor, hoping that he would be more forthcoming with his information. “Why am I not normal?”

The doctor was silent for a moment and Yoo Jin wondered irritatingly if this was just an alpha trait. “You see,” he began slowly, “the nickname for this place is ‘Alpha Academy’, named thus because only alphas are trained here. The reason for that is because it was strongly believed– no, unquestionably known that only alphas were able to wield mana. There has never been an omega wizard before. You, your very person, contradicts that claim.”

YooJin shook his head. He still didn’t quite understand. The alpha hadn’t explained anything and the doctor was using terms he assumed YooJin would already be familiar with. “‘Mana’?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course, my apologies. Mana is an elemental force of nature that is present in all living beings. For most people, it simply flows through as one breathes, exercises, sleeps, etc. It is that extra spark that sometimes results in unusual circumstances, say something as simple as winning a game of dice ten times in a row, something that is nearly statistically improbable or even something that is considered a miracle by the Church like in the event of surviving a sickness with little to no chance of success. It simply ‘is’ and most are unable to control it to do their bidding. But certain individuals, though the understanding behind it is still shrouded in mystery, are able to harness it and use it in various ways. These people, we call ‘Saerims’ or more commonly known as ‘wizards’.”

Yoo Jin gave him a look. It all sounded so… impossible. He scratched his head. “So I’m a… wizard, like with the wand and magic and everything?”

The doctor chuckled. “Not quite as fun as that, I am afraid. You have already witnessed a small part of it from what I saw at the GK incident. Your weapon–” he chuckled again, “–the plastic bat glowed before it made contact with a ‘ghost’. It meant that your mana was being infused to the weapon, the white glow meant that you have temporarily binded yourself to it. That is how you were able to strike at the creature. Wizards have the ability to bind themselves to a weapon to make themselves and the weapon stronger. It is how they are able to find these dungeon monsters, which themselves are creatures made up of mana elements.”

YooJin scratched his head. He didn’t get it at all. 

He opened his mouth to ask another question when the doctor turned away. “I thought you might want to see your friend, which was why I came in search of you.”

YooJin froze. He had momentarily forgotten. “Y-Yeah. Where– where is he?”

The doctor nodded before leading him through a plain white door into another room.

This room was filled with tools, books, and even more plants, many of which were so bright in color, they almost looked poisonous.

“Though my main profession is to act as the primary physician for our countrys’ hunters, I also study the flora from dungeons with the aim to advance both our understanding of those environments and to see if some of it could be used to cure diseases innate to our world or diseases brought about from the dungeons” explained Yoon, noticing the curious look in YooJin’s expression.

YooJin turned to the man. He had never had much of an opinion of doctors before, having had little interaction with them but…. He smacked the doctor on the arm and grinned. “You’re kind of interesting for an alpha.”

The doctor looked at him in surprise before returning the smile. “I appreciate the compliment.”