(http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u649/wigglebiscuit/Lydia/HumeFemale_zps9b0dc3da.jpg)<br/>In the grand hall of the capitol's Athenaeum, Lydia watches the proceedings with no small amount of interest.<br/>Ten thousand people are in attendance, surrounding her on all sides. Their faces form a sea, humans, elves, half-folk and more exotic breeds, members of every intelligent species on the continent are here to watch--and to surrender their daughters to the dungeon.<br/><br/>Beyond the ten thousand, cathode-ray tubes made of copper and glass broadcast the event over the aether to millions more. Watching the opening ceremonies--was well as the "games" as they have taken to calling them--is mandatory. Not that the masses need any encouragement to watch virgins spoiled and debased in every way imaginable, so long as it isn't their sisters and daughters.<br/><br/>Lydia stands on the Athenaeum floor, in front of a massive dias. She is surrounded by forty-nine others. Fifty souls, every three years. That was the bargain that ended the demonic invasion of her homeland. She did her civic duty, keeping herself pure until her sixteenth birthday--more out of a fear of the stiff fine than any worry that her name would be pulled. It's no secret that the rich automatically pay the fines that keep their daughters pure, only the poor play these games.<br/><br/>She was given a year to prepare, a year she used wisely, and then, to the capitol. She endured the humiliation of putting her feet in the stirrups so the<em>silent sisters</em>could visually confirm her maidenhead, and here she stands.<br/><br/>Arrayed on the dias are the king and queen, a representative of the demon prince, and twenty-five<em>counselors</em>--beings who have allied with the demons and reap some of the rewards of the dungeon. Each counselor takes a place in the dungeon. They do not get to choose, the first girl to reach them wins that counselor. The reward is the girl's virginity. In turn, the counselors guide the girls through the remaining levels of the dungeon.<br/><br/>No on reaches the end of course, in four hundred years, not a single girl has, but especially capable girls are selected as special servants to the counselors. Lydia does not want to be the servant of anyone. She is going to beat this thing. This generation of girls is the last.<br/><br/>But first, the counselors. It is no mistake that there is only half the number of counselors as their are contestants. The first level is a furious race. Girls who fail to reach a counselor are on their own; they don't make it very far after that. So, step one; find a counselor.<br/><br/>But which one?