Hunter opens his eyes to find himself standing in a compact room. He checks his bow and quiver, finding the only change to be a missing arrow. The floor is a carpet that has been mired by his boots, and there is a little hanging sign. If he were literate, he would know that it reads “Guest Room.”

  Finding nothing around to place himself, he opens the single door in the room and steps out into an excessively long corridor. Identical doors line the walls left and right, so he walks along the hall, stopping near a door he hears movement behind.

  Taking his bow from his back and an arrow from his quiver, he readies himself to kick the door open. The sounds from inside stop and he launches his foot at the door. Simultaneously, it swings open, causing his foot to fly past his target. This causes him to lose balance, stumbling into the person who opened the door. Instead of falling forward, he bounces off them and tumbles back, landing on the carpeted floor. An unfamiliar voice speaks.

  “What the- you picking a fight with me?”

  Hunter groans and picks himself up, replying as he walks to his bow.

  “Apologies, I was being cautious. A man called Novus brought me here, and I would rather not walk into enemy territory unprepared.”

  He crouches down to pick up his bow, but the other man quickly runs over and swipes it.

  “This is a fun thing you've got here. As an apology, let me try this out.”

  Hunter frowns.

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  “That's not a good idea. We're indoors, and everything looks... absurdly fancy.”

  The man chuckles and grabs the arrow that fell next to the bow. He doesn't reply as he fails to nock the arrow several times in a row. Hunter's eyebrow twitches, and he walks over, grabbing the man's arm and guiding it to the right place.

  “No, it's like this.”

  “Thought you said this was a bad idea,” the man comments.

  “I can't stand to see someone dishonouring my bow like that. Still, don't actually fire it. Take it outside. Who are you, by the way?”

  As the man tries to draw the bow, he responds, “The name’s Vis Magnus. I'm the strongest there is. Watch this!”

  The string makes it to about three quarters of full draw.

  Vis coughs.

  “Your bow’s broken.”

  Hunter snorts and replies, “Strongest, huh? Anyway, my name is Hunter Fenn. Do you know anything about Novus?”

  “Right, you mentioned Teacher. Yeah, he's a great guy. If he brought you here then it's probably to help you get stronger, as it is with me. Speaking of…”

  Vis gestures to his left, bringing attention to one of the doors. Following several seconds of awkward silence, a door to the right of the two bursts open, Novus dramatically stepping through. The sudden appearance causes Hunter to twitch, his hand reaching to where his bow would normally be.

  “Surprise! You'll guess correctly one day, Vis. Hunter, before you ask, this hallway is home to a powerful spatial formation from Daedalus himself.”

  To demonstrate this, he steps back through the door and out through another one.

  “I won't bother explaining it. Come through this door here, it will take us somewhere more secure. Oh, and Vis, return his bow, will you?

  Hunter takes back his bow and quivers the arrow, following the other two through another door. This leads them into a room significantly larger than where Hunter found himself earlier.

  Novus walks to the far side and up a few steps, sitting on a gilded throne. He motions to the four- significantly less impressive- chairs behind Vis and Hunter, two on either side of the door they entered through. They sit down as Novus crosses his legs and speaks.

  “In the next half an hour, those two remaining seats will be filled. Once this is done, I will announce something especially important. However, all we can do for now is wait.”