Chaos erupted around the room as everyone began talking.

  Every face was turned towards her and every question was directed at her.

  Penelope shrank back in her seat as the flood of questions kept coming. She closed her eyes as her mind failed to sort through each individual question as all the words and voices melted together. She flinched as she felt a pair of hands gently grip her shoulders. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Ula staring down the table. One by one, the voices quieted as people sat back in their seats and held their questions.

  “I know we want to know what all has gone on, but Penelope is just reading a date off the watch thingy the Elf gave her.” The Hispanic grandmother slowly looked at each person. “I doubt it says anything else about how we got here than a calendar can tell you why you woke up at your sister’s house instead of your own bed.” She looked down at Penelope. “Pen, does it say anything about what happened?”

  Penelope shook her head but nodded to the orange man on the other side of the glass. “Cirdor probably knows more.”

  “Then let’s ask him.” Ula looked at the man on the other side of the glass and motioned for him to come inside.

  Irritation crossed over Cirdor’s face for a moment, but he composed himself and walked into the meeting room. “Yes?”

  “Penelope just checked the date with the watch thingy you gave her.” Ula took her hands off Penelope’s shoulders. “It tells us that we’re in the year 2020, but all of us are from 2025.”

  “Time travel is possible by the strongest of our mages.” Cirdor cleared his throat as he moved over to Ula’s empty chair at the end of the table. He stood behind it, resting his hands on the back. “But it is something that is only allowed to undo the most destructive of events.”

  “Like a Demon invasion?” Circe failed to suppress a shiver.

  “No.” The orange man shook his head. “While a Demon invasion might sound bad to all of you, just that event isn’t something Master Jeru would have been authorization to do and even though he is powerful, he doesn’t have the power to control time like this.”

  “So you’re saying this becomes something bad?” Frederica leaned forward in her chair. “Like world-ending bad?”

  “It would have to be universe-ending bad.” Cirdor let out a deep breath as the revelation and weight of their situation sank in.

  “He said his world had been attacked.” Patrick tapped his finger on the table. “That blue Elf made it sound like he was from here and brought us to deal with a problem he couldn’t handle.”

  “Master Jeru has never been here, at least not as long as I have been stationed here.” Cirdor took a deep breath. “One world falling to the Demons would not be enough reason to use time travel. There would have to be thousands that fell before such a thing would be attempted.”

  Most of the people seated around the table were too stunned to speak. The concept of a single alien world had been difficult enough for them to come to terms with. The idea that there were thousands put the gravity of the situation on an even larger scale.

  “There is also the issue of you being here.” Cirdor looked at each of them. “If this was a simple case of moving you from one part of the universe to another, then it wouldn’t be so bad, but when time travel is involved, there are rules about who can be taken out of the timeline and put in a different place.” His gaze stopped at Penelope. “Only those who are about to die and whose deaths won’t be noticed are allowed to be taken.”

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  It took a moment for what he meant to sink in.

  “What are you saying?” Patrick glared at the orange man. “Are you telling us that every one of us was about to die before we got yanked back in time?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Cirdor nodded slowly. “And your deaths had to be in such a way that the lack of a body would still be accepted as you being dead.”

  “Lack of—” Circe choked.

  “What does that mean about us getting home?” Frederica turned in her chair to face the Elf. “What happens if we get back and our old selves are still there?”

  “Our gate was destroyed.” Cirdor shook his head. “Our communication array as well. As it stands, there is no one in this colony with the power to get off this planet, let alone get you home.” He looked at each of them. “Also, the dome around Dinmar is going to stay in place until the day you were taken. So even if there was someone powerful enough to get you back to Earth, no one is leaving until after you were brought here.”

  Voices spoke at once. Some were upset, others were sad, but all of their words mixed together into a single noise.

  “HEY!” Ula’s scream cut through all the voices. “He can’t answer any questions if everyone is talking at once.”

  Everyone quieted down. A few people wiped their eyes with their sleeves.

  Frederica stood up. “I need some air.”

  Oakley bolted to his feet and followed the blonde woman out of the room.

  “I know this is a shock to everyone. Trust me, it’s a shock to me as well.” Cirdor put his hands on the table. “We’ll figure this out, but to do that, we need more information.” He pointed at Penelope. “What she has is a wrist pad that should allow us to communicate even when she is on the next floor. I know that you see the countdown as pressing, but we have people who can go down to the next floor. Enough that we should easily be able to add six teams to your own.”

  “If you’ve got six teams, what do you need us for?” Patrick folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back in his chair.

  “You know the Dungeon and we can benefit from that.” The orange man looked over at the woman standing behind Penelope. “Ula Rameriez? I’m told you are the leader of this bunch. I would like to have you brief the Council about what you’ve seen so far.”

  “If you want to know what is going on, you need to talk to every person here.” Ula spread out her hands to motion at all of them. “Each person is in charge of something and can tell you more about it than me. I make sure they get what they need, but I’m really only the leader when there is a disagreement to be navigated. They all run the different parts of our setup.”

  “That complicates things…” Cirdor shook his head. “I was hoping you would send Miss Flynn down to the next floor with a small group so we could get a base of operations set up as well as information about the next floor.”

  “What type of information?” Patrick eyed the other man.

  “We have enchanters and craftsmen who would be able to make gear specifically for the teams we will be sending down there. That way they wouldn’t have to rely on drops.” He nodded. “And we could get an idea about housing and facilities. If we can get those established before sending our troops in, then things will go much smoother.”

  “You’re going to gear everyone out in legendary gear?” Patrick snorted. “Seriously?”

  “I’ve seen the gear that you harvested from the latest bosses…” Cirdor bobbed his head from side to side. “While our craftsmen can make something comparable, it will be much more efficient to do things like add nature resistance to all of the gear instead of a second stat or a skill.”

  “You think the next floor is nature?” Circe blinked. “Like the same thing we just did?”

  “Doubtful.” Cirdor shrugged. “But anything is possible. I just wanted to enlighten you on how much easier the floor you were just on would have been if you had resistance to nature on all of your gear.”

  “Which is why you want Penelope to go in there. You want her to tell you what type of gear to start making.” Ula looked down at the woman in front of her. “Are you down for that?”

  Penelope nodded. “I can take a team with me.”

  “I’ll go!” Circe raised her hand.

  “Take King and Archer with you.” Patrick looked around the table. “Eldri can go too. If you really can communicate with us, then we can figure out who else to send down there.” Patrick grumbled as he looked at each person, then ended his gaze on the Elf. “If you can produce this army of yours, then things should run a lot smoother from here on out.”

  “That is the plan.” Cirdor glanced at Penelope before meeting Patrick’s gaze. “That’s the plan.”

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