I ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED A DUNGEON

He placed Dune on the floor and then took the time to look around. The room was quite different from the rest of the house. There wasn’t even a single speck of dust or any cracks in the walls. There were two small beds, both having neatly made up covers, with corners folded sharply. Above them were some wooden toys arranged on the shelf in order of their sizes. Next to one pillow was a rabbit, which had its ears neatly pressed down. Next to each bed were two small pairs of shoes with laces tied neatly in bows.

Everything was in order.

He drew his eyes away from her and shook Dune by the shoulders. "Hey girl. Wake up. It is not the time for a nap."

She did not react. Her body remained lifeless on the floor.

"Is she dead?" He placed both his hands on top of her chest and waited. No response, no rise, no fall, no heartbeat. "Wait, no. It can’t be."

He bent down and placed his ear against her chest, trying to hear while holding his breath. Silence. He applied more pressure and tilted his head sideways, listening intently.

Thump. Thump.

Felix released his breath. Slow, weak, but present.

She is alive. He sat back and examined her face, calm and serene, far too serene for his taste.

"Maybe she needs some air." He leaned forward, slowly, until his face was only inches away from hers, close enough that her breath could touch his. He remained in the same position for a moment too long, close enough that anyone walking into the room would ask questions he couldn’t answer properly.

The cracks around her face shone in a faint blue.

Felix jerked back and slapped her sharply across her face. "Wake up before I leave without you."

"No!" Dune’s eyes flew open. "I am awake. What happened?"

"Nothing." Felix pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wrapped it tight around his ankle. "Sabrina just left. No answers, nothing."

"Yes. I felt her inside me." Dune answered, following a step behind him.

"You did, huh." Felix walked toward the bed. "Can you actually tell me what it felt like, having her in there?"

He stopped just before the bed where he heard something crunch softly under his feet. He backed up and bent down, picking up a small wooden statue of a man holding a sword with both hands against his chest. "Dune?"

He glanced back at her and saw she was looking at him, but only his legs. He frowned at her and looked down at himself. His eyes widened, and the sculpture fell from his hands.

A child stood by his side who was barely at his waist height. The child grabbed the falling sculpture and took one look at it, then walked to the corner of the room without any sound.

Why am I even surprised anymore? Felix put both of his hands on his face and breathed out deeply. "Hey, kiddo."

No response from the child. The child sat down in a cross-legged position in the corner, his head bowed, mumbling quietly to himself while moving the wooden figure in his hands.

Felix turned back to Dune, his face pale. "Stay behind me," he whispered.

"Yes." Dune whispered back to him.

He approached the kid slowly, carefully. "I’m not going to hurt you. I promise you that. Just have a few questions for you, okay?"

His hand went back by reflex, grasping the Dune’s wrist. "Just answer me truthfully, and we’ll...uh...we’ll give you some good things. Chocolate. Ice cream. Maybe even warrior dolls?"

He stopped right behind the kid. "What do you think about this? Would you like a couple of questions asked?"

No sound came from the kid as he focused on the carving in his hands.

Felix dropped down, reaching out towards the shoulder in front of him.

"Don’t touch him!"

"God mother!" Felix jerked back, almost falling over himself in retreat as he climbed back up and went behind Dune.

Slowly, he looked down from behind Dune’s shoulder. A girl, not more than twelve years old, was standing there with her arms crossed and an irritable look on her face as she sized them up.

A brat? Are you serious? Felix stepped around from behind Dune and looked down at her. "Who are you?"

"Who are you? You barged into my room." She gave a small, satisfied nod to herself. "You have no manners. You should have introduced yourself before asking anything at all."

"Alright, fair. My mistake." Felix kept his tone casual. "I’m Felix. This is Dune."

She raised the corner of her skirt and made a slight bow. "I’m Helen Aldric. The boy who plays there is our younger brother Joshua Aldric."

Nobility. Felix straightened his back on reflex, clearing his throat before he spoke again. "I have a few questions regarding your family, Lady Helen. It will be helpful for us if you can find some free time to talk with us commoners."

Helen scoffed. "I don’t have time, but you people look desperate enough that I suppose I’ll answer."

She crouched down and patted Joshua’s head. "Come, Joshua. These strangers want to have a conversation with us."

"I am fighting with the demon king," Joshua answered, not even looking up from his swordplay. "I’ll join you later."

"Joshua." Helen’s voice became more pointed.

Joshua immediately sprung to his feet, hiding the carved warrior hidden behind his back, bowing his head down.

"Good." Helen turned and began leading the way into the other room. There was a round table placed in the middle, surrounded by four chairs, with a vase full of dead flowers placed at the center of the table, black and brittle petals inside.

"Have a seat." Helen grabbed a chair for herself and sat down on it. Joshua had a difficult time sitting down on his own; his boots were sliding without much resistance on the wooden chair until Felix lifted him into the chair.

"All good?"

Joshua nodded, brief and quick.

Felix sat down in the seat beside Helen, while Dune sat down beside Felix. He then put his hands flat on the table.

"Have you two ever left this house?"

"Not since we died."

What? She just put that simply? Felix found it hard to believe what he was hearing. "Do you know how much time passed?"

"I have no answer to that," says Helen, "Me and Jousha have never left this room. Never seen daylight. It could be decades. It could be centuries."

"I see."He allowed a pause to follow and then said, "Tell me about your father."

"Edwardo Aldric was a good man. A good father too. He always did his best to provide for us, and was quite respected by others, until things happened. He suffered a great loss after the death of my mother. With no one else taking care of him, he had turned to wine after all of that. And then, loss after loss, and his debt just kept piling up. He wasn’t the same person anymore."

The situation got worse after Sabrina’s death. Felix registered that information and leaned forward a little more. "Tell me more about your mother then."

Helen fell silent for a bit and stroked Joshua’s hair. "She was kind. Noble, in every sense of the word. Always there for us, for the whole household. She assisted my father in dealing with the finances, giving him sound advice whenever necessary. She was holding us together until her death. She fell ill with an ailment which could not be cured by any doctor."

Felix’s frown deepened. Something in that story didn’t sit right against what he’d already seen. "This does not quite fit the Sabrina we just met."

Helen narrowed her eyes immediately. "That woman is not our mother."