My name is Aren Valeris.
According to the System, I am unremarkable.
Age: 19
Civic Tier: C-Standard
Education Track: Infrastructure Systems & Applied Logic
Psychological Index: Stable
Combat Aptitude: Not Applicable
I had read those words so many times they had lost meaning. In Philinopia, identity was a ledger clean, precise, optimized. People did not introduce themselves. The System did that for them.
Which was why it unsettled me when the System hesitated.
I stood at the edge of Sector Deep-12, three kilometers beneath the city's living strata. This level was never meant for people—only machines and maintenance drones. The air was thinner here, colder, carrying the sterile scent of engineered stone.
And in the center of the chamber, where reinforced bedrock should have been, there was a door.
It had no handle. No seam. No material signature that matched anything in the Global Archive. It was simply there, a vertical absence outlined by geometry that refused to align with my depth perception.
The System overlay flickered.
> Warning
Unregistered Structure Detected
Access Prohibited
That was normal.
What wasn't normal was what followed.
> Secondary Scan Initiated…
…
Error: Authorization Loop Detected
My pulse quickened.
I wasn't supposed to be here. My clearance ended two sectors above. The only reason I had access at all was because I was part of a municipal diagnostics team sent to observe, not interact.
I swallowed and took a step closer.
The air changed.
Not temperature. Not pressure.
Attention.
It felt like the moment before a question is asked.
Then the System rewrote itself.
> Dungeon Identified
Designation: Origin-Adjacent Structure
Status: Dormant
Threat Index: Undefined
User Detected
Name: Aren Valeris
Profile Match: Inconclusive
Conqueror Pathway: Unavailable
Observer Pathway: Unavailable
Alternative Pathway Detected
Designation: Intermediary Candidate
Authorization Pending…
I stared at the words, my breath fogging in the dim light.
Intermediary was not a role.
It was a problem.
The term existed only in deprecated System theory an abstract concept used in early post-Storm simulations. Individuals who could interact with dungeons without triggering standard aggression protocols. The idea had been abandoned after every test subject died.
The System had stopped suggesting it.
Until now.
> Proceed?
Y / N
My hand shook.
I thought of the history feeds. Of cities erased because no one understood what they were facing. Of the sealed dungeons beneath Philinopia kept dormant not because they were safe, but because they were unknown.
If I said no, the door would seal again. The report would be locked. Another century of silence.
If I said yes
The System chimed softly.
> Authorization Time Remaining: 5…
I pressed Y.
The door did not open.
It unfolded.
Space bent inward, revealing a descent that should not fit beneath the city an impossible vertical corridor lined with shifting patterns that responded to my gaze. There was no monster. No sound. Only depth.
And expectation.
As I stepped forward, the System issued one final notice.
> Notice:
System Oversight Reduced
External Governance Nullified
You are no longer fully protected.
The door closed behind me.
The Global Dungeon Accord Council convened in emergency session less than three seconds later.
Holographic seats filled with representatives from Philinopia's ruling ministries, allied bastions, and the Central System Authority. Data streams cascaded through the chamber, all converging on a single anomaly report.
A human had entered an unclassified dungeon.
Without certification.
Without authorization.
Without triggering a hostile response.
"This is unacceptable," snapped Director Hale of the CSA. "No civilian should bypass dungeon protocols. Lock the sector. Extract him."
A pause.
A technician spoke, voice tight. "We can't."
Silence followed.
"The dungeon has reduced System oversight internally," the technician continued. "External commands are being rejected. It's… selective."
The Minister of Continuity leaned forward. "Selective how?"
The answer appeared above the table: Aren's profile, highlighted in red.
> System Classification: Anomalous-Compatible
"This sets a precedent," someone whispered.
"No," another replied grimly. "It breaks one."
In the shadows of the chamber, representatives of rival factions watched quietly conqueror guilds, independent city-states, those who believed the System had grown too cautious.
Too afraid.
Beneath Philinopia, a single unremarkable citizen descended into the unknown.
Above it, the world began to argue over what he was allowed to become.