You find a hole in the cavern floor. It is not the entrance to the dungeon’s next level, which has been clearly marked by generations of Coursers. Something draws you closer to the mouth against your own instincts. It wishes to swallow you, and you are compelled to let it. What do you do?

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Tsubaki lost the track of time ever since she descended into the dungeon.

If she had to guess; at least a day or two must have passed. Especially since just a few moments ago, her stomach rumbled in hunger – while escaping the peril, she has not thought of taking any kind of provisions with her, well… there wasn’t even any time to grab anything, and the only thing she took with her was her life that she clutched onto tightly, not letting go.

She knew nothing of the dungeon, other than her parents’ comments about how dirty and dangerous it was, and that only fools descended underground… And while the dungeon was certainly mysterious and reeked of various kinds of dangers… it wasn’t dirty at all. Well, at least in the eyes of a mere Courser, and not royalty; but Tsubaki promised to put the life of royalty in the past. Sure, it was… full of moss, moist and icky when you stepped on it, and there was quite the amount of dirt scattered all around the floor, and there were slimes, and…

Okay, maybe she had some of the princess mannerisms left in her.

But she had survived the past days, and hasn’t freaked out about her surroundings yet, even after she calmed down from the amounts of adrenaline her escape induced in her, so she had already considered that a great success.

Her philosophical thoughts were interrupted by another growl of her hungry stomach, and she sighed in exasperation. How could she know what was edible and what wasn’t, if she never was in the dungeon before?

Think, think, think… She’s seen Coursers getting back to the surface many times, what did they have in their baskets? All this stress only made her mind even messier than before – smartest thing would be to find someone who’s knowledgeable about the dungeon, and knows all about it… But how can she trust others, especially since she’s definitely got hunters hot on her trail? The princess chewed on her bottom lip; the surroundings were eerily quiet, other than the small sounds of water dripping down onto the stone, and occasional flutter of a bat’s wings. She was alone for now – whether that was a good or bad thing, considering her current predicament.

For now, she continued her wandering further; either she finds a kind-hearted adventurer that’s yet unaware of what happened to the Empire, or better – doesn’t know who she is at all, and would be able to help her out with how and what to eat in the dungeon, or she’ll find something visibly edible by herself… and will end up with a terrible stomach-ache, hopefully, in the best case scenario.

The route she took was clearly paved by generations upon generations of Coursers, and she frowned; if so many of her kind descended into the dungeon for eras, why did her parents consider them unworthy? They worked hard, she saw everyone trying their hardest to survive in the Empire… Tsubaki looked behind at her long tail, that swayed gently. Was it only because of her noble lineage, that she was meant to treat the common Coursers like dirt? Was it something embedded deep into her blood, and no matter how hard she tried, it’d stay with her until eternity?

She shook her head again. For now, she had to focus on her own survival, no matter how selfish that sounded. And after that’s done… she’ll shift her focus onto repairing what got broken and burnt, and maybe… in the distant future, the fallen Empire wouldn’t be a closed off to lower-ranked Coursers kingdom, but instead a grown village, where everyone would be able to find a safe space for themselves.

The dreams… she wished to make them a reality.

Just as she wanted to take a step forward, she felt pieces of dirt and small stones fall down, which made her realize she accidentally strayed off the well-trodden path, almost losing her life that she cared so much about to a simple mistake… The dungeon was in fact dangerous, and there was still a lot about it left for her to learn.

But just as she’s supposed to turn around and thread on the correct path, something from deep within the hole calls out to her, the voice sugary sweet, almost sticking to the Courser’s ears the more she listens and leans down her head to hear the song more clearly. While she’s unable to understand the words or the language, it still pulls her closer, entices her to move just a little bit further…

When Tsubaki closes her eyes, she once again sees the Empire, but now all the Coursers have wide smiles on their muzzles… She turns her head to the side, and notices her parents talking with a nearby merchant, laughing and joking like old friends. The piebald notices how the entire main square seems more lively than ever, with Coursers working at every corner, sharing the joyful atmosphere. Was the rebellion just a nightmare, and she woke up back in the Empire again? But her parents, no matter how much of a friendly façade they put on, wouldn’t behave like this, and not with a mere, dirty farmer. Tsubaki furrowed her fuzzy eyebrows, turning back to look again at her mother – the older mare takes an apple from the merchant, as they talk about how it was harvested in the dungeon… she takes a bite from it without even cleaning it in a bucket of water nearby, and suddenly everyone’s faces become blurry.

Tsubaki neighs in distress and quickly takes a few steps back, the illusion immediately disappearing when the princess realizes it’s not reality, and instead a trick done by the mysterious being, hidden in the pitch-black darkness of the hole. It seems that the mouth hidden inside wished to swallow her and make her tonight’s meal, and the song worth of a siren was meant to plant unrealistic illusions of a perfect life before her eyes, so she’d willingly fall down to her demise… Too bad for the creature, as Tsubaki had her parents’ hateful and rotten personalities engraved in her mind since she was a foal, and even magic tricks about them suddenly doing an 180 degree turn in terms of their behaviour wouldn’t be enough to make the piebald Courser fall for it.

The princess scoffed, kicking a rock towards the hole, and the singing gradually died, leaving only quieting down echoes. It seems that while she was looking for something to eat herself, the creatures of the dungeon did the same… Tsubaki shook her head, and turned around on the correct path, carrying on with her journey through the depths of the dungeon, hoping to find at least a drinkable source of water deep beneath the surface.