I’m not sure what I was expecting from hearing the first real voice other than my own and the System’s since I started playing the game. 

A skinny blue, six-inch long salamander holding a sword that could have passed for a toothpick in my face was not it. 

It’s wearing a braided leather jerkin and tight pants, which is just wholly unfair. What skin wasn’t covered by fabric had patches of blue glowing stripes and spots on its skin that blended in perfectly to our current surroundings.

It presses the sword closer to my face.

Not fair, not fair! This world is not fair! I want pants! I want legs!

“Friend or foe?” asks the salamander with a squeaky little feminine voice.

“Uh,” I start, trying to figure out what to say as my first words to the first apparent sentient creature I can talk to. “I guess it’s weird to kill something that speaks my language?”

Probably a poor choice of words I could have chosen, but never mind.

She blinks at me, her blue eyes glinting in the light of the flora. “Are you… a person?”

“What are we defining as a person?” I ask.

“Not everything in this world is what it looks like,” she tells me—which is both old news and new news to me. “So, are you a person?”

“That depends,” I say, swishing my tail around. The salamander watches warily, but makes no further movement. “Who—or what—are you?”

“I ask the questions here,” she s

Tired of the back and forth and expecting that I can eat her if she annoys me anyway, I tell him, “Yeah, sure. I’m a person. Do you know what a player is? I’m one of those.”

“Person, then,” her eyes narrow. “But maybe a liar.”

“How am I a liar?”

“Players are big and human. You must be one of the others,” she says and flicks her blade. Her eyes move from her to somewhere behind me, and a few other salamanders come out. 

“‘Others?’” I ask and watch them surround me. All of them are dressed similar to the first, and are looking me over with an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny.

“One of the Nephilim,” says the salamander. 

I wonder if my confusion and annoyance are as apparent as I think they are when my face contorts at the term. “A what?”

“Children of the children of gods and mortals,” she says and directs the other around her. “If you come with us, we will take you to the elder council for judgment.”

“Judgment?” I repeat, slightly more worried now than I was before. I’m all for making friends, but this was looking a lot like I was being taken prisoner over anything else. “Wait, what is going on? I’m just passing through, so if you don’t mind—”

The salamander shakes her head and threatens me with her sword again. “If you resist, we will end you now. We cannot let a potential threat to the Dulla simply enter our territory.”

Obstinate, I consider my options. If I turn back into my tunnel, I could go down other paths. I could have left the cave! My heart quails as I realize I could have continued my simple life.

Then again, since these salamander creatures don’t appear immediately hostile, there could be other benefits to following them.

“Come, Nephilim!” the salamander I’d been interacting with pokes me lightly with her weapon.

“Don’t call me that!” I snap—which as a snake is a far more aggressive action then I really intended it to be. All the salamanders around me immediately draw their blades. I rise up to get a better view of the field. I close my eyes and sigh. “Look—what’s your name?”

“I have no name for the likes of strangers,” she says. Patience, Noa, I tell myself with all the wisdom logic-brain has to offer. Patience is a virtue. You are a virtuous snake. Virtuous snakes cultivate good karma, and you need that right now.

Meanwhile, emotional brain just wants to snap this stupid salamander’s head off and find out how many coins it’s worth and what achievement I get for eradicating this species the same way I did the mice and rats.

Nevertheless, I summon what’s left of the few social skills I have at my disposal—which is none, by the way. What I have consists of sass and sarcasm, and neither fly well in diplomatic situations.

But it’s better than straight up eating them. 

“Fine. Then I’m just gonna call you Sala-One, how’s that? Because I have a name, and I will not answer to ‘Nephilim’ or go anywhere with you if you call me that,” I say, sweet as I can. Sala-One blinks at me several times in confusion. I don’t think she’s used to insubordination. “You can call me Noa if you get that toothpick out of my face. If not, you can be my next meal. Sound good to you?”

I level my eyes with heres, and we must have some kind of meeting of the minds during our staring contest, because the salamander lowers her blade, then signals for the others to stand down.

It occurs to me that this could have gone very, very badly for me, but since it didn’t, I decided not to dwell on it too much.

“Fine, Noa,” Sala-One says with an amount of sass I couldn’t help but respect. “But you will come with me.”

“Very well,” I say, glancing at the others who were looking between one another. 

As Sala-One and her kin escort me through the cavern, I’m torn between sightseeing and sizing up my new ‘friends,’ but observing my surroundings wins out. 

I mean… how could it not? 

This new area I’ve found myself in is practically worlds different then the ones I’d been in so far. It almost looks like a proper starting area, with all manner of creatures inhabiting every nook and cranny the craggy rocks and magnificent bioluminescent plants have to offer.

More importantly, though, everything is, relative to the outside world, me sized. Down here there are no towering trees of who knows what unrealistic origin I’m living in, but mushrooms and ferns and the occasional taller bush or colorful stalagmite. 

Whether it’s because of the area’s rules or my escorts, nothing seems that interested in attacking us, either. It’s a peaceful and serene setting, set to the tune of the lapping of the brilliantly blue river that also has a subtle glow to it that I attribute to algae.

Above us is just as fascinating. The glowing mosses and mushrooms grew all the way up the cavern’s walls and down crystalline stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Wavy patterns that are like rivers of stars almost look like they’re moving, but I can’t tell if it's just the reflection of the water or something more.

“Whoa,” I breathe as a fluorescent bat zooms through the air. “Wait. Are those bats glowing on the ceiling?”

“The Fossfolessi tribe nests in the River of Lutari,” Sala-One tells me. When I give her a blank look, she explains, “The river of light you see are the cracks in the sky in which they live. It spreads through the whole of this, our land of J’endanu, and even deeper into the Caves of Labra if you follow it opposite the direction the River of Sutari runs—the river of life that resides in the cracks of the earth.” 

I nod slowly as I take the lore in. “The Foss… Fossfer—”

“Fossfolessi.”

“Right, the Fossfolessi tribe—are they like you?” I ask. “I mean… can we all communicate?”

“There are four Blessed tribes in J’endanu that have been given the gift of knowledge and sentience,” Sala-One tells me. “The Fossfolessi are the Children of the Sky. We, the Calarithian, are the Children of the Shallows. The Kikoima are the Children of the Deep, and the Deluratu are the Children of the Dark.”

“Do others exist outside of J’endanu?”

“Few who live here, leave here,” she says. “The outside world is dangerous for those like us. The dark and damp protects us from the mighty creatures of legend. If any know, the Fossfolessi would—or the Deluratu. Since they travel the sky and the Caves of Labra freely, they would know more of what lies beyond our borders.”

“Got it,” I murmur, staring at the cavern’s ceiling again. “So ask them, huh? How would one gain an audience with them?”

Sala-One looked thoughtful for a moment. “If the council approves of you, it is possible they could arrange an introduction,” she says, and I glance at her quickly. “I imagine you would have to earn such a right, however. We don’t not treat with many outsiders.”

For the first time, something pops up in my vision. A beautiful, wonderful thing that’s almost prettier than J’endanu itself.

A quest pop-up.

⛛ Quest Offered ⛛

║The Tribes of J’endanu║

✦

You have gained introduction to one of the Tribes of J’endanu. Accepting this quest will begin a chain of quests and events that will help build your reputation with the Tribes of J’endanu. Achieving a high relationship will earn you various rewards. Failure will result in all tribes becoming hostile towards you.

❖

Requirements:

[0/2000 Calarithian Reputation]

[0/2000 Fossfolessi Reputation]

[0/2000 Kikoima Reputation]

[0/2000 Deluratu Reputation]

❖

Finishing this quest guarantees:

50,000 Eden Coins

Perk: Skills, abilities, shops, and perks offered by the tribes will become available to you.

Title: Friend of J’endanu

❖

Failure at this quest guarantees:

All of J’endanu will be hostile to your person.

❖

Quest Ascension Possible

Requirements: Unknown

Rewards: Unknown

Perk: Unknown

Title: Unknown

✦

❏Accept °°°°°° ❐Reject

“Well, then,” I say with a brand new reason to smile as I hit the accept button. “Let’s go meet the Elders.”