Accra, Ghana — The Hunter’s Guild Headquarters

  Juma adjusted his wristband communicator for the fifth time, his fingers drumming impatiently on the metal table. It had been nearly ten hours since he and his team had entered the dungeon outside Tamale. Ten hours since the gate had collapsed—swallowed whole by some unknown force, leaving no trace of the Hunters who had entered.

  And now, every Guild official in the country wanted answers.

  "Let me get this straight," said Madam Kusi, the head of Ghana's Hunter Association, her sharp gaze fixed on Juma. "You entered the dungeon with ten Hunters, and none of you made it out?"

  Juma’s jaw clenched. "We were inside when it happened, Madam. One minute, everything was fine. We were mapping the first chamber, no unusual mana readings, no high-level monsters. Then the entire dungeon shifted. The walls moved, the ground cracked. We lost all connection to the outside."

  "And yet, you made it out," Kusi pointed out.

  Juma exhaled through his nose. "Barely." He glanced at the others in the room. His second-in-command, Mirembe, sat beside him, arms crossed, her face drawn with exhaustion. Across from them, Guild investigators were reviewing their scans, shaking their heads at the readings.

  "But Kofi Ajani didn’t," one of the investigators muttered.

  Juma stiffened at the mention of the name.

  Kofi Ajani—the E-rank errand boy who had been left behind at camp. The one they had expected to still be waiting when they returned.

  Except he was gone.

  The campsite had been untouched—no sign of a struggle, no tracks leading away. It was as if he had vanished along with the gate.

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  And what disturbed Juma most?

  The last thing he had heard before the dungeon collapsed was Kofi’s voice.

  Not shouting in fear.

  But in defiance.

  "I’m not dying here!"

  Juma shuddered at the memory.

  Something had taken him.

  Something had changed him.

  ---

  Deep Within the Dungeon — The Forgotten Tomb

  Kofi pressed forward through the ancient ruins, his new strength pulsing in his limbs with every step. The symbols on the walls grew more intricate, the black sun motif appearing more frequently, almost like a warning.

  But what truly caught his attention was the altar at the center of the next chamber.

  It was ancient—massive stone slabs arranged in a circular formation, their surfaces engraved with spiraling patterns that pulsed faintly with energy. At the center, a skeleton sat slumped against the altar, clad in decayed armor.

  Unlike the other remains he had seen, this one wasn’t human.

  Its skull was elongated, its ribcage wider than it should have been.

  Kofi stepped closer, his instincts screaming at him to be careful.

  Then he saw what lay in the skeleton’s lap—a book, its cover blackened with age but its pages untouched by time.

  He hesitated only for a moment before picking it up.

  As soon as his fingers brushed the surface, the air changed.

  The torches in the chamber flared to life, shadows twisting unnaturally. The very walls seemed to breathe, the ancient carvings pulsing in time with Kofi’s own heartbeat.

  And then, the voice returned.

  "You have found it."

  Kofi swallowed. "Found what?"

  "The truth."

  The book in his hands grew warm, its pages shifting on their own. Then, words began to appear—glowing symbols reshaping themselves into something he could understand.

  And what he read made his blood run cold.

  ---

  The Forgotten History of the Dungeon

  "Before the Hunters, before the first Gates, the world was not alone."

  "We were watched. We were measured. And when the time came, we were judged."

  "The first war did not happen on Earth—it happened above it."

  Kofi’s hands trembled as he turned the page. More text appeared, along with diagrams that made his head spin—massive figures descending from the sky, battles waged not with swords, but with forces beyond human comprehension.

  "Earth was never meant to awaken. But something went wrong. The Gates opened. The dungeons spread. And now, we are being observed once more."

  The words burned into his mind, leaving no room for doubt.

  This wasn’t just a dungeon.

  It was a relic. A prison. A warning.

  And Kofi was not supposed to be here.

  ---

  Back on the Surface — The Investigation Expands

  In the days following the collapse of the dungeon, news of the incident spread quickly.

  Government officials demanded answers. The Hunter’s Guild doubled its patrols around active Gates. Specialized squads were deployed to analyze the anomaly.

  And in the shadows, someone else was watching.

  Within a dimly lit control room, a figure in a high-tech suit studied the readings from the vanished dungeon. A soft beeping echoed as a report came through.

  "Subject Ajani is still missing."

  The figure frowned. "Not missing. He’s inside."

  A pause.

  "Do we extract?"

  The figure hesitated, then shook their head. "No. Not yet." Their eyes narrowed as they examined the energy fluctuations surrounding the collapsed Gate.

  "Let’s see how far he gets."