<div align="center">(http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u649/wigglebiscuit/Lydia/HumeFemale_zps9b0dc3da.jpg)</div><br/><br/>Lydia soaks in everything she can as the names of the counselors are read. Certain elements of the dungeon stay the same from year to year--the counselors are always on the first level, for example--but many elements change, and the fiends of Pandora are quite fond of dropping clues as to what might lie ahead in the inauguration; it gives the crowds a reason to pay attention to an otherwise dull part of the event.<br/><br/>She nods through the list of counselors; the Abject Lord, the Shadow King, the Marchioness, the Iron Golem, but her eyes go wide at the mention of the last. The girl next to her gasps, and with good reason.<br/><br/>Malefactus is devastatingly handsome. She has seen him before, of course, on the cathode tubes at home, but the effect is not the same on the screen as it is in person. His countenance is both cruel and hungry--love and kindness are not traits of the counselors, but even so, she feels drawn to him. And then she remembers his oath; that the girl who reaches him this year will defeat the dungeon.<br/><br/>Lydia steels her resolve. She<em>will</em>end this, and if sacrificing her body to this cruel demon is what it takes, then so be it.<br/><br/>Things happen quickly after the names are read. Malefactus locks his cool gaze on her. She cannot look away. She sees his lips quiver, and then, the top string of her corset snaps! Even as her hands reach up to tie the loose ends, her mind is aflutter. Did Malefactus just do that? Was he singling her out above the other girls? She was far from the most beautiful of the girls--<br/><br/>In mid-thought Lydia is teleported to the first room of the dungeon. She has seen it many times. Doors lead off in all directions. Chests are spread about here and there, with dangers often lurking nearby. As soon as the spell ends, the girls run. Lydia sees the five girls who were rumored to give themselves to Pandora gathering in a knot near a small cluster of chests. Wait! make that six.<br/><br/>Six girls? Every year for the past five the number of girls who give themselves directly to Pandora grows. At first it was just the one, Nadia, who haunts the dungeon still, and the world watched in horror. Normally, the girls race to the counselors. Half of them fail, of course, and of those, some were caught either by Pandora or The Void, or, lacking safe houses and supplies, eventually succumbed to the traps and denizens of the dungeon. But to give oneself willingly to Pandora, to voluntarily be transformed into a monster, was unheard of. And if a servant of Pandora were ever to reach the end...the demoness would be free to resume her conquest of the world.<br/><br/>These six will represent a grave threat to the girls determined to beat the dungeon--assuming the dungeon itself doesn't beat them first. But for now, Lydia has her own problems. Like the fact that her bosom is falling out of her top--why is he so cruel?--and then there are the wolves.<br/><br/>The first level is usually a free-for-all. Those who survive to the second level often form alliances, but not now, not with the rush to reach a counselor. Still, as Lydia watches the girl running unwittingly toward the ambush, she cannot simply do nothing. She races toward the nearest chest, kicks it open, and snatches a pair of short swords from inside. Freeing a sword from its scabbard, she races toward the girl.<br/><br/>"Jenya!" she cries out. "This way!"<br/><br/>The girl pivots, racing toward Lydia, and the two sprint for the nearest door, the pack closing in quickly behind.