The stone skittered off the metal statue. Life-size, around 5'7'', it was of a man in leathers and a bandanna. He carried a backpack, a set of lock-picks in his belt and a wickedly serrated knife in his hand. He was a thief, a member of one of the many bandit tribes that lived in these inhospitable ruins, trying to make a name for themselves. Chisato was already planning the documentary she could write about them: Cave Culture, the Other Side of Expel, Life at the High Levels. As she had predicted, the statue clicked and whirred to life as the stone hit it. Its five companions, arranged in a ring, followed it and they began to shuffle around the circle in a bizarre parody of a ritual dance, their blades flashing in random directions as they sought their attacker. Hidden safely behind a pillar, she took the opportunity to photograph them until, five minutes later, they calmed down.

Further down the hall, a shopkeeper's stall stood abandoned, a few crates spilling their contents, blueberries and potion bottles, a sword that glowed a pale cyan from some minor enchantment and ten bright emerald frogs who jumped and splashed in a puddle of whatever was in the syrupy pink contents of Resurrection Bottles. Chisato took pictures of the Go Home Frogs. She had hoped to meet 'Santa' - the leader of the Bandits - would be at the stall so she could interview him and maybe buy something, but this was almost as good. Go Home Frogs dwelled only in the deepest regions of dungeons and were very difficult to catch as they could not only hop by teleport short distances. They were widely sought after by dungeoneers as, if captured, they could be trained as homing frogs and could even teleport others out of the dungeons with them. Little was known about their life in their natural environment. Noel would love a nature documentary...

Suddenly she heard a loud meow. Her backpack began wriggling and a small black furry head poked its way out. Before Chisato could grab it, her kitten had jumped out of the bag and was chasing the frogs across the room.

"Lola!" she called. How in the name of Tria had it sneaked out of the house in her backpack? It really was a reporter's cat, she though. The next thing she knew, it would be taking pictures of her in the shower.

She made another grab for it but it darted behind a statue, scattering frogs everywhere. With one hand, she fished behind the statue. A claw raked the back of her hand, drawing three drops of blood. She pulled her hand back. With a meow of protest, the kitten began to scramble up the face of the statue. It was halfway up before it was flung off again when a figure wrapped in rags dropped from the ceiling onto the statue. Hissing, the kitten turned over to land on its feet, its jet black fur standing straight on end. Chisato jumped back as well and instinctively took a picture of the figure. It looked to be a young man with brown hair and eyes that unnerved her in the way that they burned red. He looked bedraggled and slightly emaciated, his fingernails long and untended, his feet bare, but there was a softness in his face as he stared at Chisato. Reaching into his brown rags, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Chisato Madison, right? I'm a big fan. Read all yer stuff."

Chisato looked at the paper and saw that it was an essay she had written just last week. It was about advanced Nedian martial arts, about limiting energy and releasing it in rapid pulses to unleash almost infinite forces without breaking the Viltgance barrier. She had only ever written it on her laptop, never mailed it to anyone or shown anyone or even printed out a hard copy. Her laptop was protected from hackers. Expel didn't even have hackers. It barely even had computers. It was impossible for this man to have obtained that essay.

"Been a real help in my day-to-day life." he added, "An' that newspaper. Real interestin'. Nice pictures on page 3. That Dias sure is hot."

"Who are you?" she gasped.

"Sorry. Should'a introduced meself. I'm Eruaqs na Od." he held out a rather grubby hand for her to shake, "Pleased to meet ya. Travelled a long way to find ya."

The kitten chose this moment to hide behind Chisato, rubbing herself against the reporter's legs. Chisato picked her up and stroked her.

"I... what's this all about? Are you from a gang?" The kitten licked her face.

"I'm not from this planet." he said, "Tol' ya... come a long way. An'... I've come ta show ya somethin'. Somethin' ya really gotta see fer yerself. It's real important."

"Is it a good story?" she asked hopefully.

"More 'n that." he said, "C'mon, follow me. We're gonna be late."

With that, he jumped off the statue, landing expertly on the floor, and ran for the stairs to the floor above. Chisato ran after him. The kitten wriggled out of her arms and followed them.

-------------------------------------------------

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"Top floor." he grunted.

"With only thr... two of us?" she doubted the kitten's combat ability, "We'll never make it!"

"I'm not thinkin' of fightin' my way through!" he yelled. Stopping at the top of the stairs, he turned a corner to a long corridor, flattened himself against a wall and knocked on what looked like a flagstone. It was hollow. He knocked on it again, three times rapidly and then twice slowly. It clicked and a section of the wall slid away, revealing a square passage big enough for them to walk through one at a time. It was pitch dark as there was no room for torches.

"If this is an ambush, you're dead." she whispered, "I'm a black belt in Nedian Kung Fu."

He shook his head, "Jus' a short cut. Or ya wanna go through all them things in the main corridors?"

"You have a point." she said, "But why are we going to the top floor anyway? All that's there is Gabrie Celeste and she'll give you nothing but a horrible death."

"No time." he gasped, running through the corridor. Chisato ran after the rapidly retreating figure of Eruaqs, the kitten under her legs. She had so many more questions ready to hurl rapidly at him like machine gun fire.

Where was Eruaqs from? How had he got here from another planet? Were there any more of his kind on Expel? What did he want from her? How did he hack her computer and print out that essay? What was a guy doing looking at the Page 3 boys? All the questions had to wait. She was in the middle of a labyrinth of Herculean trials, chasing a madman down a pitch black corridor. With a kitten.

Eventually the light returned and they ran into a larger chamber. A ladder was bolted to one wall. Eruaqs jumped onto it first. Scooping the kitten into her arms, Chisato followed him. On the next floor, he showed her a hidden trapdoor underneath a solid looking statue that moved on rollers when you kicked it in just the right part of the base. After that it was a service hatch used by the food demon, then a removeable panel in one of the speakers in the music demon's lair. The robot room had a sliding panel in the ceiling and on the tenth floor, the dragon let them past when Eruaqs said a password. He explained to her that these were all short-cuts known only to the thieves who worked to tend the dungeon, restocking empty chests, resetting traps, feeding monsters and repairing broken save points. These unseen assistants had worked here for centuries under a contract between Santa and Gabrie Celeste, who didn't care what illicit dealings they got up to as long as her dungeon was clean and well maintained.

What Chisato saw on the top floor was beyond anything she had ever seen or heard about before on Expel.

Gabrie Celeste wasn't there. Chisato had never heard of the angel of battle not being in her chamber on the top floor. She always believed that she was bound there. Instead, the room was empty and the roof was missing. It had opened up to reveal a dome of stars in the night sky. The shape of the mountain that the dungeon was carved into was also revealed - the top floor opened up into a tunnel to the peak of the mountain and stairs wound around the room in a spiral to the peak. Eruaqs began to ascend the stairs and Chisato followed with one nervous glance at the zodiac tapestries around the Gabrie Celeste's room, the blades of Orichalcum that hung across each other on the wall, the rug of wolf fur that served as her bed and the strange crystal mobile on the ceiling. She took a picture then left.

On the peak of the mountain was a spaceship hangar. Chisato knew that it was a spaceship hangar because a spaceship was docked there. Fairly small and slim for a ship, it was painted blue and silver with a spindly three-armed symbol that Chisato didn't recognise on the hull. The word 'REVORSE' was painted beside it in silver italics. The cargo hold of the ship was open and thieves were unloading crates from it and lowering them down into the dungeon. A foreman stood and yelled orders at them.

Chisato opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on but Eruaqs put his finger to his lips and motioned for her to follow. Then he darted forwards. Before the thieves could see him, he was behind the crates. Chisato followed. They ducked under the crates and sneaked up to the ship. Climbing the crates, they hauled themselves up into the cargo hold and ran. Eruaqs led her out of the hold and into a corridor, then up into a ventilation shaft, where they hid. Chisato tried again to ask what the hell was going on but, to her irritation, he had fallen asleep.

She flipped open the cover of her reporter's notebook and began writing.

Everything I thought I knew about Expel is changing, she wrote. There are so many question to be asked. And every question raises more questions.

She soon lost herself in her work, choosing exactly the right words to have the biggest impact. She barely noticed when the cargo hold slid shut with a whine and the engines hummed to life. With a loud roar from the thrusters, the ship took off with Chisato inside.