My ant farm continued to grow for the next few days. I provided for them and they for me. Swiftly the colony grew with the abundance and some princess ants even left to establish their own colonies. Good, at this rate they will provide a nice passive energy gain for me.
As I expanded a portion of my domain to follow one of the future queens, I came across the most peculiar thing. A miniature battle raged before me.
Pixies and warped ubees fought for dominance. Ubees are a variant of giant bee with their stinger on their forehead instead of their abdomens. Although the pixies stood a tick tall, the length of a male human hand, the ubees were half a tick long. Rushing through the air, the ubees swirled about randomly to dive bomb the pixies.
Fortunately for the pixies, they vastly outmaneuvered the ubees. The pixie wings blurred like a hummingbird, allowing them to hover or instantly dart in any direction. Combined with tree bark armor and thorn swords, each pixie easily held their own against a dozen ubees. But the number difference was simply too great. Each pixie would need to defeat perhaps fifty ubees by themselves.
I noticed one particularly brave pixie attack the ubees rather aggressively. She flew headlong towards rushing ubees to dodge in the last second, vanquishing her foes as she passed. For every ubee a normal pixie slew, she eviscerated two.
Following behind her, a male blue haired pixie protected her flanks as she darted ahead. Together they worked perfectly in sync. But the ubees noticed this firey warrior duo and began to swarm them. When the ubees swarmed, they slowly separated the duo.
Without her partner, the redheaded pixie¡¯s attacks left her too open. As I watched, she fell to the ubees, skewered through her sternum. The blue haired male next to her screamed in rage, stabbing the ubee still lodged inside her. He caught her and gently lowered her to the ground. His distraction cost him though. Another two ubees impaled themselves into his back. After stabbing the two a few more times, their killers flew off to ruin more lives.
He lay unmoving on top of his partner. His face buried in the crook of her neck. In contrast, her expression was shocked and painful. Her eyes open and glassy in death.
Something inside me rent in two watching the two pixies die in each other''s arms. Seeing the remaining pixies battling for survival at this point, I decided to help however I could.
At this point, I tried pelting the bees with rocks but I couldn¡¯t hit any of them! Furthermore, I almost hit a pixie in the head.
What else am I supposed to do? All these dying pixies and bees gave me plenty of energy, but I have no outlet! How are dungeons supposed to fight if I can¡¯t do anything to my enemies? Am I always going to be so reactionary to my surroundings or can I make a change?
...I¡¯m an idiot. I don¡¯t have to fight anyone. As a dungeon, my constructs do that for me! I focused so much on expanding my domain I forgot the main threat of a dungeon, the monsters.
As I start to try to create my first construct, I paused. What if I let this battle continue? The energy from the dying pixies feels incredible. I''m not the one killing and I''m not responsible for the pixies¡¯ safety. Already this battle allowed me to greatly expand my domain. I felt high on the bloodshed.
Then I looked down again at the dead duo. Her dead expression burned into me. They were likely lovers, maybe with a child back home. I closed the female pixie''s eyes and smoothed her expression into a more peaceful one.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Do I really want to follow the path of a dungeon? As a bystander who has the power to stop the violence, isn''t not taking action the same as sanctioning it?
My resolution reconfirmed, I resumed trying to build my first construct. Let¡¯s see, an ant won¡¯t be able to fly so I need to make a ubee. Focusing on the bodies in my domain, I analyzed every single particle within an ubee body. Normally I wouldn¡¯t be able to focus on so many things at once, but something guided me. I felt like I made a mental mold incorporating all the parts of the ubee. Then my energy flowed into the mold I made to fill out all the details.
As the last bit of the mold filled up, shining particles appeared in the air, coalescing then growing dimmer to form a new ubee.
Mentally I shouted ¡°Protect the pixies!¡± and somehow it understood me.
My ubee construct launched into action, impaling two real ubees who did not expect the friendly attack. Unfortunately, my ubee was slain by an enterprising pixie who took advantage of the seemingly confused ubee.
No! I¡¯m trying to help you, stupid pixie. Looks like I should differentiate my ubees somehow. Re-examining my mold, I compared the sections for black hair and yellow hair. Once I found the difference I changed all the hair to be black. With my new mold, I began pumping out ubees as quick as I could. Immediately I ordered each new one to assist the pixies. Soon the tide of the battle began turning against the ubee hive.
One of the pixies seemed to be directing the others, speaking in some incomprehensible language. He had silver-white hair and wore midnight black armor. Once he realized the black ubees only attacked the regular ubees he quickly shouted at the other pixies and they formed up. With the pixies on the defensive, their casualties greatly reduced and my ubees slowly cleared out the rest of the hive. The battle seemed to be wrapping up.
At least until the Queen ubee appeared. She dwarfed the other ubees, at least five times their size. As my ubees approached to kill her, she released some sort of sonic wave magic that resonated with my bees. All of them dropped to the ground, paralyzed. Since my ubees are modeled after her own hive she must have some control over them. None of my ubees were going to be able to help and the pixies looked exhausted.
The white-haired pixie commander shouted something and pointed his thorn sword at the Queen ubee. They both darted forward to clash, racing straight at each other.
Why are his allies waiting on the sideline? Certainly, he doesn¡¯t plan to fight her alone?
But the commander fearlessly flew onward. What followed was an ariel dance of death. While the Queen could not keep up with the pixie commander, he could not seem to make more than scratches on her tough hide.
He darted all around her, using his higher agility to dodge her dive bombs. When she slowed down to turn around he would attack. For minutes this went on until the Queen realized her strategy was flawed.
From there she tried to engage in a sword fight with the pixie commander. This style of engagement seemed to favor her as the pixie thorn sword could not penetrate her thick forehead. Meanwhile, he managed to avoid her stinger but the Queen successfully body slammed him several times.
Discerning the fight had turned against him, the pixie began avoiding Queen. He didn''t attack at all, only dodged. Frustrated that she could not gain enough speed to catch him, the Queen began dive bombing again.
This fight did not seem to be going anywhere so I considered launching more rocks right as the Queen dove faster than ever. Yet he simply hovered there as she rapidly approached. At the very last second, he moved. Backflipping and twisting in midair, he landed on the Queen¡¯s back. Then he pushed her forward with all his might.
Earlier, he had hovered in front of a tree trunk. With her rapid dive and the pixie on her back pushing her forward, the Queen was unable to change direction in time. The stinger on her forehead sunk deep into the tree. Unable to move, suddenly all the pixies swarmed and stabbed her to death.
The Queen''s death was not swift. Her tough hide worked against her as she slowly died from a thousand cuts.
Throughout the battle I had constantly been spending the energy I gained. Despite my capacity growing since the worm, I could only hold the energy of two pixies at a time.
The Queen released far more than two pixie''s worth. I felt the energy, pleasure, and pain rush into me. Then nothing.
Chapter 4: Drawings
I watched the guards train on the rooftop for a few hours before they found me.
¡°Hey, kid! You can''t be up there, get down!¡± the guard instructor yelled.
Seeing him waiting below and not wanting to get in trouble, I scrambled up higher to jump to the next roof and run away. But planting my foot in that spot proved to be a mistake as I lost my balance. I slid and tumbled my way off the roof, completely out of control.
¡°Aaahhh!¡± I couldn''t help but let out a short shout as I plummeted through the air.
¡°Ooph¡± the guard let out a grunt as he caught me in a princess carry.
¡°And that is why you are not allowed to hop along the roofs young miss.¡±
Still a little stunned from the fall, I couldn''t do anything but blink up at him. His salt and pepper beard was scruffy, a scar over his left eye, and an overall look of a hardened veteran. Yet his eyes showed more concern over my well being rather than anger.
¡°I noticed you snooping around during training the last week. While I admire your interest in becoming a soldier, you''re too young to be hanging around the training ground. You should wait-¡±
¡°I don''t want to be a soldier,¡± I said, cutting him off before his lecture could wind up.
Confused, he narrowed his eyes before asking ¡°Then why do you watch our training so closely?¡±
Looking away from him, I feel my cheeks heating as I answer, ¡°I wanted to see the crossbows.¡±
¡°The crossbows?¡±
I nodded.
¡°I''ve never heard of them before and I wanted to see how they work.¡±
Nonplussed, the guard took a few seconds before responding.
¡°You''re not going to stop sneaking about until you see one up close, are you?¡±
Grinning, I shook my head. ¡°Nope!¡±
Sighing audibly, he set me down.
¡°Come along then, I''d rather have my eye on you and get this over quickly. I''m Verdint, what''s your name?¡±
¡°Lindra, and yesterday was my eighth turn!¡± I explained, smiling up at him as we walked.
¡°Hmm, you''re older than you look. If you become an attendant to a soldier or adventurer then you can be allowed access to the training grounds with their supervision.¡±
¡°But everyone wants me to do booooring stuff like clean armor or sharpen their swords. I want to draw instead!¡±
At this point, we reached the crossbow station. As I rushed forward to look at one of them resting on the long table a hand on my shoulder suddenly held me still. I almost fell back due to the sudden lurch.
¡°You''re not going anywhere or touching anything without my express permission, understand?¡±
The guard sternly told me with a glare.
I nodded my head enthusiastically, still trying to peak at the crossbows.
¡°Guards! Five spin break!¡± Verdint shouted.
Various guards put away their weapons, many of them panting and dripping sweat. The majority of them made their way over to the water bucket. More importantly, they walked away from the firing range, leaving the beautiful contraptions before me.
Walking up to the table together, I made sure to keep my hands at my side, lest the opportunity be taken away from me. Finally, Verdint picked up the crossbow.
¡°This is one of Parvik''s newest inventions. A crossbow shoots arrows similar to a bow, but the biggest difference is not in the result, but who can use it. A bowman needs to train for years to be able to effective in battle. Yet with the crossbow, this training can be reduced to a few months. The key difference is that the crossbow locks the arrow in place and the archer can fire whenever he needs to, allowing him-.¡±
¡°Or her!¡±
¡°Yes, or her. Allowing her to more effectively aim or move without sacrificing accuracy. This holding mechanism also reduces muscle strain because the archer does not need to hold the arrow back. Now watch.¡±
Placing a bolt into the crossbow through the top, he pulled back on the string, and the arrow locked in place. He then pointed the crossbow towards the ground and even upside down.
¡°As you can see, I can manipulate and turn it however I want. Until I''m ready to fire.¡± Snapping it towards the hay target down the range, he pulled the trigger and the arrow raced straight into the bullseye.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
¡°The only downside is the decreased fire rate compared to a well-trained bowman and the increased production time to make a crossbow.¡±
¡°That was awesome, can I try? Can I?¡±
Chuckling, he assented. Jumping forward, I picked up one of the crossbows and my arms strained under its weight. When I tried to load the arrow I couldn''t stretch the string halfway back. I heard laughing behind me.
Stupid man with his grown-up muscles, I thought. Placing the crossbow tip on the ground, I braced my feet against it and pulled with my whole body. Straining as hard as I could, I almost closed the distance to the lock notch. Just a bit more¡
There!
¡°Wait, I didn''t think you could actually-¡±
Before he could stop me I imitated his action, snapping towards the target and firing. The recoil tried to jerk the crossbow out of my hands. Well, I almost hit the target. Instead, I hit the wall behind it. My disappointment only compounded with what Verdint said next.
¡°I told you not to do anything without my permission. Come along now, you saw the crossbow and even got a chance to fire it.¡± He took my shoulder and started walking me to the exit.
¡°But you said I could try it, I didn''t do anything wrong.¡±
¡°I said that because I thought you couldn''t pull it back. Once you managed to do so, I informed you to cease your actions and you did not. Now come back when you''re older or as an attendant.¡±
With that final remark, the gate to the training grounds slammed in my face.
Two weeks later and I heard that the guards received another new device that supposedly launched giant nets. The next day I clambered back up my trusty roof, taking extra care to place my feet on secure spots. I won¡¯t be made a fool of again!
¡°Kid, I thought I told you to stop climbing roofs!¡±
Oh no, Verdint stood below shouting up at me again. Where did he even come from? A moment ago no one was nearby.
¡°I want to draw the net throwers,¡± I told him with a smile. Maybe he¡¯ll let me see them again?
¡°Well, I am not letting you see one this time since inspecting the crossbow obviously did not deter you from returning.¡±
¡°Hmph.¡± Frowning, I crossed my arms and ignored him. If he was going to be a meany like that I will just watch from up here then. Someone as big as he would fall through the roof if he tried to climb up.
As I watched the training area in front of me, suddenly his grinning face interrupted my view.
How?...
But then at the peak of his jump, he lifted me up and slung me over his shoulder. Then we fell to the ground before I realized what happened.
¡°You¡¯re going to have to try harder than that to avoid capture against an ex-adventurer little miss.¡± He said as he gently set me down in front of him.
¡°How did you jump so high?!¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the shock out of my voice or off my face.
¡°What do you know about energy?¡±
¡°Energy is why all the evil dungeons eat us right? They want our energy.¡±
¡°While that¡¯s true, I meant to ask if you knew how humans and adventurers can use energy.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied, shaking my head.
¡°Well, in order to combat the horde of dungeons, adventurers discovered a way to use dungeon¡¯s collection of energy against them. Using a dungeon core a normal person can begin the path to becoming a true adventurer, more powerful than any human or sentient race. They create an adventurer core. This allows them to absorb energy from dungeon constructs like a dungeon does to us. Then we can use that excess energy to make our bodies stronger, tougher, and even cast magic. As an ex-adventurer, my legs have increased strength allowing me to jump to the top of the roof you were on.¡±
¡°Wow! Why hasn¡¯t anyone told me before?¡± This guard was so cool! Even though he kept shooing me away.
¡°Exactly because of the look in your eyes right now. There is a law against telling children who are too young, before age eight to be exact. Prior to the law, too many children grew up dreaming of becoming an adventurer and dying young on their very first dungeon dive. Dungeons are extremely dangerous and brutal places. We can¡¯t afford to let so many youths throw away their lives in chase of glory.¡±
As he finished his warning his face grew dark with sorrow like I¡¯ve never seen before. I could tell there must be a story behind that expression. He looked so sad, I wanted to cheer him up.
¡°Don¡¯t worry mister, adventurers are cool but I want to draw instead!¡± I told him with a smile.
¡°Oh is that so? You keep mentioning drawing, do you have any that I could see?¡± He said with a still tense but significantly happier face.
¡°Yup.¡±
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my drawings of the crossbows that I made in the past few weeks and handed them to him. As he began to look through them he started making all these funny looking faces.
¡°What¡¯s wrong, are they bad?¡± I asked with disappointment in my voice. I worked so hard on them to make sure everything fit to scale and would work properly. Maybe I should have found a way to make a prototype, but no one wants to give a bunch of sharp carving tools to a little girl. They all tell me to go learn to sew or something.
¡°Did you really draw all of these? No one made them for you?¡± He asked quietly.
¡°Of course, they wouldn¡¯t be my drawings if someone else made them,¡± I replied with annoyance. First, he insults my drawings, now he doesn¡¯t think I made them. Stupid man.
¡°These aren¡¯t drawings, these are blueprints that look exactly like the crossbow I showed you the other day, you realize this, correct?¡±
¡°Yeah, so? That¡¯s how I like to draw. I made some different ones if you look towards the back of the pile.¡± Wow, could he get any ruder?
After looking at my drawings of better crossbows for a while and muttering to himself, he finally looked up again.
¡°What is this box and lever you put on the top of this one?¡±
¡°The box hold the arrows that fall into the slot to be shot next and the lever makes pulling back the string faster. Last time you said that crossbows fired too slow, right?¡±
I don¡¯t understand why he¡¯s acting so odd about my pictures. He looked at that last picture for extra time.
¡°Do you mind if I show these to Parvik?¡±
¡°Those are mine, you can¡¯t take them!¡± I exclaim, no way am I letting him take my precious drawings away from me.
¡°I promise to give them back to you next week. In return, I will let you see the net throwers.¡± With a smile on his face, he knew I would agree.
For a full spin I pretended to consider his deal.
¡°You better not damage them.¡± I agreed. Of course I would, I could draw all kinds of new things after seeing how the net throwers worked.
Chapter 5: First Monster
Then I further reduced her gestation period. My ant colonies are not limited by food, only reproduction speed. I suspected my hive will be similar.
Follow the ubee queen¡¯s orders and imitate normal ubees as much as possible¡± I ordered the two constructs. Immediately they began to fly around and interact with the queen.
I name you Eva. The first of my living monsters, future founder of a great colony and defender of my core. May your reign ever be prosperous and together may we thrive.¡± I declared.
Chapter 6: Growing Home
Restoring life in my domain took a whole moon turn. So for ten rotations, I remained largely motionless to conserve energy and let nature take over.
My ants managed to grow from half a colony to three full ones again. Plenty of insects and birds from outside my domain came to feed on the insects I slaughtered in my creation of Eva. I even managed to kill a few birds and create molds for them, although I did not risk making any.
After I created a few more ubee constructs Eva began to build her hive in a tree almost directly above my core. Once she made a hive and some honey she began spreading her scent all around the edges of my domain. Apparently my constructs cannot breed with her. The wild ubees did not directly follow my commands but they followed Eva¡¯s orders.
Furthermore, Eva¡¯s offspring inherited the same connection to me as Eva. This means breeding loyal monsters will maintain their own populations by rather than requiring constant energy upkeep from me.
Now that my resources are at a safe level again, I want to experiment with plant life. Unlike most living things I am able to directly interact with plant life. Using my limbs I can push, move, or cut the trees around me. When I cut down one of the smaller trees around me I received a minuscule amount of energy, the same amount as a few ants despite the tree¡¯s much larger size. Too bad, looks like direct farming won¡¯t be a realistic method of energy gain.
For my next experiment, I infused my energy into a sapling. The young tree soaked it up like a starving babe. When the tree became fully saturated on my energy I could feel its body, the nutrients being soaked up through the roots, the sun shining on its leaves and even how the tree would grow. Eventually this tree would be a towering behemoth. To see if it was possible, I imagined the roots expanding farther and the future trunk growing shorter but thicker.
As I finished the image, the energy saturating the tree began to move throughout the tree. The tree started growing so rapidly that I could barely perceive the changes. Quickly, I found which nutrients the roots sought and water in a stream at the edge of my domain. Bringing them to my sapling, the growth exploded! The tree shot up five clicks in less than a spin. Then the trunk swelled and branches burst out to create wide foliage.
¡°Bzz bz!¡± Eva excitedly flew through the newly grown tree, twirling and twisting. Her children also began exploring the new addition.
¡°What do you think Eva? Now I know how to grow and shape the different plants around here!¡± I exclaimed with glee.
To demonstrate my increased magnificence I then instructed the tree to bloom entirely with pale white blossoms. This sent the ubees into a frenzy, immediately they went to work collecting pollen. One of the female ubees also began the process of forming a hive in the top branches.
Flying to me, Eva bobbed up and down. ¡°Bzzzzzz!¡± She then raced back to the tree of her own hive and circled it while still buzzing.
I couldn¡¯t help chuckling to myself. ¡°Yes of course I can grow your tree, Eva. I¡¯ll make it extra special just for you.¡±
Another moon turn later and all the trees in my domain towered over the rest of the forest. Eva¡¯s tree turned out especially tall, its branches winding up the entire trunk like a spiral staircase. I also put in plenty of natural tree hollows for creatures to live in. Eva¡¯s tree covered the ground above my gem core now and the roots encircled me in a web of safety. At the very top of the tree grew dozens of plump, pearly white fruit.
Nearby birds obsessed over the fruit as soon as they grew. When a bird consumed a fruit they grew faster and stronger than before. But as soon as Eva realized the potential of the fruits she posted guards to vehemently protect the fruit. Every rotation the guards honed their combat abilities more and Eva improved her tactician abilities. Where originally four ubees needed to work together to take down a bird, now two could manage. Her best warriors were rewarded by consuming pieces of the fruit, increasing their size and speed. Thus Eva¡¯s Queen Guard formed.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
By now I also created several types of bird constructs. Yet I decided to hold off creating any monsters until I got another large influx of energy.
Now that I took control of all the plants in my domain, I not only made the trees larger and vibrant. I also cultivated the underbrush to be dense, full of poisonous plants and thorny brush. No large creature stood a chance at getting through without slowly chopping their way through.
At this point, I nurtured all of the insects, plants, and birds in my domain. My energy stores are full and defenses stronger than ever. Now to expand my domain further.
This time I decided to try expanding differently. Instead of slowly pushing out, I fill up my domain up with over half my energy. Once everything is saturated I begin spinning all the energy. Faster and faster, my energy whirls around with my core as the eye of the storm. Slowly, the energy all moved to swirl around the edge of my domain and became extremely dense. Every second I glimpsed a wisp of visible energy. I couldn¡¯t keep this up much longer. What originally felt like whirling a rock on a string now felt like a boulder.
So I cut the string.
Energy whizzed out everywhere. Whereas before I needed to push and force out my energy, now it sliced through space. My radius doubled. Accomplishing the same feat with my old method I believe would use eight full cores worth of energy.
I quickly evaluated my new domain. My domain now contained plenty more vegetation, a larger stream, but more importantly, several new species of animals. I sensed squirrels in a tree, fish in the stream, a rabbit den with a python lurking nearby, and stalking the python were several mongagers. A monster hybrid between the mongoose and badger, mongagers are vicious and fearless predators capable of taking on monsters many times their size. Normally solitary, these parents seem to be teaching their two cubs how to hunt.
The father mongager crawled forward silently. When the snake twitched its head, alerted to something, the mongager struck. Lunging for the back of the python¡¯s neck, the python barely dodged those deadly jaws. Yet the python failed to dodge one set of claws that raked down her face. Hissing, the python counter attacked, tanking another swipe to bash into the mongager and try to wrap around him. The mongoose genetics showed their strength as the mongager swiftly dodged around crushing coils.
Their dance continued, the mongager swiftly dodging while chipping away the python¡¯s health. Finally, the mongager¡¯s balance failed him as a stick broke underfoot. Before he recovered the python entangled the slippery monster. The mongager stood no chance now. If he was alone.
The other mongagers swarmed the python. There was nothing for the snake to do, she could not dodge or retaliate without letting another enemy go. So she squeezed as quickly as she could, trying to claim revenge before her own death.
In the end, the python successfully took down her kill before she succumbed to her own wounds. Then the energy I expected flooded me. Acting quickly before I passed out, I chose two hawks nesting at the top of a tree and ordered a two dozen queen¡¯s guard ubees to take them out. The hawks never knew what hit them and swiftly fell to the barrage of elite ubees.
I consider the standard mold for the hawks. In the end, I simply scaled up the size of the male¡¯s mold and made him stronger. Then I placed the mold over the bodies. As with Eva, the bodies of the hawks flowed into one, twisting and merging. As the energy void appeared I fed it the python¡¯s, mongager¡¯s, and two hawks¡¯ energy. With such large sources of energy I did not need to siphon off any of my insects this time. In fact, the only required an additional quarter of my core energy.
As I watched, the newly made monster rose, the size of the two hawks combined. He stood there, magnificent and dignified.
¡°I name you Avir, hunter of the skies and all-seeing eye.¡± I proclaimed as another chunk of energy left me to name him.
Avir bowed deeply before me, a gleam of light sweeping across his eyes. He looked ready for the thrill of the hunt. Unfortunately, I felt the feedback of previously holding so much energy at once starting to hit me. Soon I would pass out for a time.
¡°Avir, protect my core until I return. Work with Eva, the queen ubee. Do not engage unless necessary, I will return soon.¡±
I faded to darkness.
Chapter 7: Survival
I hated these classes. Ever since I let Verdint borrow my drawings to show to Parvik he enrolled me and would not take no for an answer. Normally for the children of wealthy merchants, adventurers, and nobility, I painfully did not fit in. The academy only permitted me to attend because the great Parvik himself made them. While I admire his inventions, I am beginning to despise him and Verdint for making me come here. I wrote a letter to Parvik, as I still have not met him, asking for permission to simply use the academy library instead. His response was pages long, rambling about the importance of a wide perspective, that no invention exists in a vacuum, and blah, blah, blah.
So three cycles of classes later I have learned economics, politics, history, arithmetic, etiquette, and art. Not even the kind of art that I enjoy drawing, the academy made me draw pointless things that did not even have a purpose, simply because they looked pretty. Apparently drawing flowers in a vase builds character.
The arithmetic was useful at least, even if the teachers taught slowly. Why did the other students take so long to learn these formulas? The symbols all worked together like gears, once you know the basic parts putting them together to solve for what you want took little effort. Already I am able to calculate more advanced designs for my drawings, I mean blueprints. Vardint says I need to call them blueprints.
My blueprints apparently made me significant enough to garner special attention. Yet as my classmates love to remind me, I am a peasant among nobles. Not like my family works any less than their families. My mother grows the most beautiful gardens. For the noble parents of my bullies. Father keeps up with any other blacksmith in the city and he lost his left arm years ago. Unfortunately, he cannot do the delicate tasks he once could.
Finally, the teacher dismisses us. I gather my drawings and hurry out the door.
¡°Lindra, wait up,¡± Meyn called out from behind me.
Laughing to myself, I sped up. As the academy¡¯s only air-touched human, he didn¡¯t need me to wait for him. Sure enough, I felt a breeze and soon he matched his stride with mine.
¡°Have you finished your essay on the beginning of the Outbreak yet? I couldn¡¯t find much written on the period between the discovery of the first dungeon and the first monster swarms.¡± He continued as we walked.
Begrudgingly I responded, ¡°You should look in economics texts. At first, nearly every commoner regarded dungeons as a chance to turn their life around. A few hours of bravery could get you enough gold to retire. Except the price of everything rapidly increased with so much wealth coming out of nowhere. The merchant guilds were in an uproar.¡±
¡°Oh, I never would have thought about that. Thanks. So what¡¯s your latest drawing? Let me see.¡± He started nudging my arm and trying to peak at the bundle in my hands.
¡°Well, if you insist,¡± I reply with a smirk. Proudly I hold up my latest drawin- I mean blueprint.
¡°Huh? What is it?¡± His head tilted like a confused dog.
¡°It¡¯s a messaging system. Wires travel across the city to connect two machines. On each machine is a block for each letter. When a letter block is pressed it will pull the wire that moves the same letter on the other machine. Then the person on the other side can write down the message.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
¡°That¡¯s amazing, where did you come up with the idea?¡±
¡°Well, there are still a few issues with the system that I need to fix. The system doesn¡¯t work yet. Last monster wave did you see the guard towers flashing back and forth with each other?¡± By now we slowed our pace to more easily talk. Meyn knew the one way to get me to open up.
¡°No, my father put mother and I into the secure room before going out to fight. He always does that, I never get to see any of the battles,¡± Meyn complained with a sigh. He wanted to follow in his father¡¯s footsteps as a great adventurer but could not overcome his parent¡¯s overprotectiveness.
¡°Well, the attack surprised the guards with how quickly the swarm changed attack locations. In the chaos and fires, the guards failed to notice the signal lights about the flank in time.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why the swarm caused a remarkable amount of destruction. The last time a monster wave broke through the walls was cycles ago.¡±
We both go silent after that. Back when we were only a few cycles old, a particularly nasty monster wave of primarily harpies and other ariel monsters attacked. They flew over the wall to destroy whole sections of the city. My father lost his arm in the attack and Meyn confessed to me once that his older sister died as well.
Fortunately, in the battle one new adventurer party stood out, clearing out monsters by the dozen. Then the rotation after the battle they attacked the dungeon that sent the swarm before it could recover. When they returned with the broken core, the king proclaimed them the Heroes of Kopth.
Ironically, despite their skill and bravery the Heroes of Kopth died on their next dungeon dive.
No one likes to talk about the state of the world, but studying at the academy forced me to see how poorly the sentient races are surviving. Growing up as a commoner I intimately knew the pain of hunger. But reading the surviving history from before the Outbreak showed me how far we fell. Kopth remains the largest human city but we cannot fill all the homes. Entire streets remain destroyed from the harpy attack eight cycles ago. My aunt, a midwife, says she delivers fewer babies every year. No one but the strongest traveled adventurers between cities, certainly not merchants. News from other populations remains sparse. Sometimes entire settlements simply disappear.
Our sour mood lingers as Meyn and I walk out of the academy and down the road. Each of us lost in our thoughts. Turning the corner, I feel a hand shove me against the wall.
¡°Well if it isn¡¯t the rat and the breeze. I thought I told you last time to go back where you belong,¡± Herp snarled at me. His glare could kill and his rotund face scrunched in anger.
Not bothering trying to reason with him, I try to duck under his arm caging me against the wall. I see one of Herp¡¯s minions pushing back Meyn before I run face first into Bori. Of course, Bori had to be there. I bounce off his massive chest, not staggering him a bit, and fall back onto my butt. My drawings scatter everywhere.
¡°Hey, leave her alone guys. You can¡¯t do this to people,¡± Meyn shouts as he unsuccessfully tries to shove his way to me.
Ignoring Meyn entirely, Herp turns back to me. ¡°Trying to leave so soon? You should have never come.¡± Herp closed the distance between us, stepping on my drawings and grinding them in the filthy road. He kneeled down and picked up my latest drawing about the communication system.
¡°We need hard workers and fighters, not weaklings who scribble,¡± he said as he tore my drawing repeatedly before blowing the scraps in my face.
¡°You bastard!¡± I shouted and swung my fist at him. Even at this distance I missed his face, grazing his shoulder instead.
¡°You dare to insult and strike the King¡¯s nephew? Bori, looks like she needs a lesson that¡¯s extra educational.¡± Herp smirked, the sadist.
¡°Hang on Lindra, I¡¯ll get help!¡± Meyn shouted before sprinting off.
¡°Certainly, Herp¡± Bori menacingly crooned as he cocked back his right foot.
...Not again.
Chapter 8: Realizations
Flinching from an expected blow, I needed a few seconds to come back to my surroundings. That dream felt more real than the previous ones. I am starting to recall them more clearly when I awake. What happened before I passed out? Ah, the mongagers and python battle. I told Eva and Avir to protect themselves only if necessary.
I wonder what happened with the mongagers? Searching quickly, I found them battling at the base of Eva¡¯s tree.
Entire squads of ubees took turns dive-bombing the mongagers before flying away. Yet despite their efforts, the mongagers¡¯ tough hide and natural poison resistance made the ubees little more than annoyances. Even Eva managed to deal little damage. Mongager just don¡¯t care!
As I watched, the mother mongager sniffed and looked directly at Eva¡¯s hive and all of her honey. The mother and two remaining cubs all began climbing the massive tree, hunger gleaming in their eyes. Avir swooped down at the mother but she swiftly dodged and retaliated. Her claws raked the air right next to Avir''s head. As he retreated I came up with an idea.
¡°Eva, use ubee constructs to keep the mother blinded. Avir grab one of the cubs when she¡¯s distracted!¡± I mentally commanded. Hopefully, this would work.
Immediately ubee constructs swarmed the sow and Avir dived for the smallest cub. He successfully latched onto the back of its neck. The cub couldn¡¯t twist enough to attack back. Pumping his powerful wings, they rose. When he reached twice the height of Eva¡¯s tree, Avir let go.
¡°SCREEEEEE!!¡± An awful and shrill sound emitted from the cub¡¯s mouth as it fell. Until a thump and silence.
As soon as she heard her cub¡¯s screech, the mother paused and glared directly at the base of Eva''s tree. She released a cloud of gas from her anal glands which slowed down or neutralized the ubees around her. Then she turned into a whirlwind of death. I had no idea that a mongager could move so swiftly. Despite still clinging to the tree, her long body flexibly turned, twisted, and rapidly sliced everything in reach of her claws. Once no more enemies remained, she dropped to the ground.
¡°Take out the mother Avir, the ubees can¡¯t stop her.¡±
Avir plunged fearlessly downward. This time he raked his claws down her side but she also landed a hit, and her claws nearly severed his wing. Blood quickly soaked his feathers. Without his wings, he stood no chance of successfully hitting her.
¡°Retreat Avir, there¡¯s nothing you can do now.¡±
As Avir retreated, hopping back on the ground, the mother mongager did not pursue. At this point, I would rather let her have the ubee honey than kill any more of my monsters and constructs.
Yet for some reason, the sow did not return to climbing the tree. She started digging. Soon her remaining cub dug beside her and together they made decent progress. Why are they digging instead of climbing? Then I remembered that when the cub died the mother looked down. Right at where my core lay.
¡°Everyone stop them however you can!¡± I ordered, beginning to panic.
The remaining ubees flew down the forming tunnel towards the mongagers but they may as well been flying into a fire. The mongagers¡¯ anal glands fumigated the small enclosure, not allowing for any ubees to deal damage. Avir couldn''t even enter the tunnel with his large size. Eva also wouldn¡¯t be able to help and I did not want her to get hurt pointlessly.
In a last-ditch effort for survival I began creating as many ant constructs as I could. However, the mongagers¡¯ domain forced me to create the ants at the edge of my domain since I could not manipulate my energy too close to the mongagers. As quickly as possible, I formed batches of oversized ants until I ran extremely low on energy. Ordering my constructs to defend my core, I hoped they would be enough.
After agonizing seconds of waiting for my ants to reach the tunnel, they finally swarmed in. The mongager tried using its glands again but the ants only slowed a little. Soon they covered the mongagers and clamped their pincers down. But the ants inflicted little damage to the tough hide.
Upon seeing the chemical warfare ineffective against the ants, the mongagers went back into battle mode. They shredded through and crushed the ants. The size differences simply proved too great.
¡°Aim for their eyes and mouths!¡± I shouted but the opportunity passed, already my constructs¡¯ numbers diminished to almost nothing.
Finishing off the last ant, the mongagers turned back to furiously digging. By now less than a tick of dirt separated them from my core.
I suppose I shouldn''t have gotten greedy. I wanted to protect Eva¡¯s hive, but if I hadn''t taken out the cub, they would have simply eaten the honey and left. I wonder what will happen to Avir and Eva without me. Will they die too? I wish I could have grown large enough to protect my creations and see more of the world. Perhaps I might have discovered what happened to Lindra and how she relates to me.
The mongagers would break into my core chamber in a spin.
A sensation tingled the edge of my domain. Rushing wind echoed among the trees and several blurs blasted through the brush. Stopping at the tunnel entrance, a squad of pixies hovered and drew their swords.
¡°Cyfur uln faqer,¡± the familiar silver-haired pixie commander shouted as he raised his sword.
All at once the pixies held out their now glowing green thorn blades. From each pixie, the glow pulsed larger until it reached a critical mass. Together, the released magic combined and shot down the tunnel.
Whrooom, the ground shuttered and the tunnel partially collapsed. I felt a surge of energy and knew one of the mongagers passed. Looking inside the remaining tunnel, the mother lay dead. The midsection of her chest appeared to have rotted away, leaving a gaping hole. Behind her body the hub heavily injured behind her, parts of its body also rotting.
The pixie commander flew in and without hesitation swiftly put the cornered monster out of its misery. Watching the life in the cub''s eyes fade, I regretted the events leading to this. But overwhelming relief crashed over me as the danger passed.
Yet as I calmed down, I noticed the final blast opened the small chamber my gem sat in. The pixie commander stared at my gem. Tension crept back into my mind. Right now I am completely defenseless and dungeons are seen as a plague upon the world.
With the pixies¡¯ natural domains even larger than the mongagers I couldn¡¯t manipulate any energy in my domain. Not that I possess enough energy to fight them off anyway.
My thought process stopped as the pixie commander flew over to my gem core. Slowly he placed his palm on my core. The moment he made contact I sensed him differently than before, he felt like a mass of energy brushing against my mind. One, two, taps on the edge of my consciousness appeared to be him knocking.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
¡°Open,¡± he said aloud.
He spoke Kope! I don¡¯t know what language he spoke to the pixies before, but if he spoke Kope then I may survive this after all. In an effort to answer him I focused inward to my mind.
Surrounding my consciousness appeared to be a barrier consisting of a stream of energy. The overall shape formed a sphere. Except, energy flowed directly up from the center and fell downwards before coalescing at the bottom to form a sphere. Then the energy at the bottom flowed directly up again to rejoin the center before the flow continued to the top again.
After focusing for a moment I managed to change the flow to open a slice of the barrier. Once I opened myself up the pixie created a tendril of energy to the very center of my mind.
¡°Now we may talk mentally,¡± he thought at me.
¡°Come now, we saw your sign for ¡®peace¡¯ and you assisted us in the battle against the ubees, you must have the intelligence to speak.¡± he continued aloud.
¡°I am unsure what to say,¡± I hesitantly reply. I am still unsure where this interaction will lead.
¡°To be fair, so am I. The pixies of Rewp have never heard of a dungeon who could talk at such a young age let alone one that leaves a message for peace.¡±
¡°How do you know I am young?¡± I enquire.
¡°Your small territory of course. You likely only reached the surface three or four sun cycles ago, correct?¡±
¡°Actually I reached the forest less than two moon cycles ago,¡± I corrected him.
¡°Truly? You grow rapidly then, but I suspect that reflects largely on your intelligence compared to other young dungeons. How did you learn to speak Kopish in such an old dialect?¡± Curiosity and wariness flashed across his face. He began to pace in midair, slowly flying back and forth above my core.
Indecision wars within me, I don¡¯t want to explain myself to a pixie I do not know. Although he helped me I¡¯m wary of his intentions going forward, but looking at his tense countenance I knew that I needed to cooperate.
¡°I am not sure, I have always thought like this. Although I do sometimes dream about a human girl that lives in Kopth,¡± I explain but try not to go into too much detail.
¡°Interesting. Well, as the third born Prince of the colony of Rewp I am here to investigate and open negotiations. While we did not expect conflict, as you can see we are more than capable of defending ourselves. Should you prove hostile or untrustworthy you will be eliminated.¡±
¡°If I wanted to attack you why wouldn''t I have done so when you fought the ubees last time we met?¡±
¡°I am simply clarifying our positions,¡± he explained while holding his open hands out, pacifyingly.
¡°I understand. You mentioned negotiations, about what exactly and what is your name?¡±
¡°Ah, pardon my rudeness. My name is Finn Rewp, third son of King Terent Rewp and Queen Radella Rewp.¡±
¡°Your whole colony is named after your family?¡±
¡°Indeed, my great grandfather slew a mighty dungeon and built his house atop the broken core,¡± as he said, puffing out his chest.
¡°What is your name, dungeon?¡± he asked before I could comment.
My name? Why my name is of course-
__________________________________________________________
Surrounded in darkness, she couldn¡¯t sense anything around her for an endless amount of time. At first there were memories, and emotions? But those faded long ago. All concepts and thought eventually left her. With no stimuli or consciousness, she remained in stasis.
Eventually, a boom rent her world. A crack in the void. Water gushed from the split in the darkness, light flickering through the foaming geyser that suddenly appeared, the water flowed in without stopping. The cool liquid quickly rising above her, quickly filling the void that used to be her everything.
Her world filled.
The previously empty world was now full of painful pressure. With no more room for the water to enter, it pressed down relentlessly. She felt like she would be crushed, the pain rousing her from her long stupor.
No thoughts floating in her mind, she didn¡¯t remember how to think at first. She could do nothing but passively observe the water, amazement slowly growing. The sudden overhaul to everything she knew was too much to comprehend. Eventually, some long forgotten instincts roused her. For the first time, amazement turned to worry. How would she breathe?! Did she need to breathe?
But before these new thoughts could be addressed, the water pressure grew too great and pain spiked back through her. Excruciating pain, building like the water that keeps adding to her misery.
Fortunately, for her sanity, she heard a small screech and then hiss. On the other side of her world a new, tiny crack appeared! Then the crack widened. The unrelenting, incompressible, endless water finally released from her prison world.
The pressure and pain lessened. Now, as the water flows in, through, and out of her world, it tugged her along. While she¡¯s scared to leave the only place she knows, a greater part of her yearns for the freedom of this water. Either way, she flowed.
The water pushed her to the new opening. For a second she got stuck, but with a pop, she made it through to a new world!
Full of more darkness¡
Before, her world was complete absence. There used to be absolutely nothing. Now, she can sense her new world has solid things in it that the water flows on top of.
Rocks? Dirt? Earth? She¡¯s not sure where those names came from but they feel right.
As she floats on the underground river, beneath the stalactites, she pondered. There are so many new things she¡¯s experiencing that don¡¯t seem quite new. Even thinking to herself should be new, but isn¡¯t.
Trying to remember if she had ever done so before, she realized she couldn¡¯t remember. Once she thought about a memory she realized one can also forget.
Floating on the now mild river she thought and remembered. One realization would lead to another endlessly. Occasionally a new sight, such as a shiny rock in the dirt above her, directed her to another chain of rediscoveries. Over time she remembered most of the general things about the world. The true world outside, not that void she was in for who knows how long.
She remembered mountains, trees, the sky, animals, humans, elves, dwarves, language, towns, monsters, and...dungeons. Eventually, her thoughts became cyclical. She couldn¡¯t remember any more details about the world. More importantly, she could not recall a single thing about herself.
Distressingly, she could not remember specifics about her past. Not even her name.
If I cannot remember my old name, what should my new one be? Thinking about the water that freed me, I decided to name myself Riva. I hope that I can be just as unrelenting.
With her name established, Riva continued to float. Eventually, the river turned into a trickle and deposited her in a small chamber. Over time the trickle disappeared and the tunnel it carved collapsed, leaving Riva in a small spherical chamber.
Once again Riva was left without stimulus, but this time she kept her thoughts and played mental games to entertain herself. So she started counting the bits of dirt around her. She reached 523,712 and started again¡
Looking at Finn, I finished my first memory as a dungeon. I spread my senses out through what I had built since then, my ant colonies, Eva¡¯s hive, the magnificent trees I grew, the sanctuary grove, Avir, and imagined my potential. So far I have been so worried about becoming evil that I let my fear drive me. The mongagers showed me that my defenses truly were pathetic. If I truly love what I create I need to be able to protect them as well. To do anything else would be evil to my creations.
A rush of energy traveled through my domain. Everything paused, the forest silent.
¡°My name is Riva and this is my dungeon,¡± I proclaimed and all of my creations created an uproar. My ants waved their mandibles, my ubees hummed and danced about, the trees rustled violently in a phantom wind, and Avir let out a hunter¡¯s screech.
Chapter 9: Diplomacy
Following my proclamation, the air hung heavy and silent.
In this moment I claimed another part of my identity as a dungeon; a protector, provider, and, if necessary, an avenger. While I still do not want to search for blood, no longer will I shy away from it either. Until now, I acted too passively and that left me vulnerable.
Turning my attention back to Finn, I saw his hand resting on the pommel of his sheathed sword. His eyes told me that he acknowledged my power but was not cowed.
As if nothing happened he continued. ¡°You don¡¯t seem completely soft hearted then, good. The main point of negotiation my father sent me to discuss is allyship. Currently the soldiers of Rewp battle against a dungeon a far more powerful than yourself. This dungeon¡¯s domain pushed to the edge of our settlement. Should we fall, the dungeon will be greatly empowered by our dying energy. Shortly after the dungeon will certainly bring a fight to your domain as well. Currently, you stand no chance of winning, despite your rapid growth you¡¯re simply too young. The colony of Rewp formally proposes an ally agreement to work together for our mutual survival.¡± As he finished his monologue, he stood rigidly upright and formal.
¡°If the situation you describe is true, then I am open to the idea. What would this partnership include besides mutual defense? Your auras may be an issue as well, with them I won¡¯t be able to use any of my energy.¡± I did not trust him fully, but he could end my life now.
¡°Auras should not be an issue. We will open ourselves up to your energy if necessary. Even if we did not, auras naturally acclimate to your dungeon over time. Were this was not the case armies could simply spread out soldiers in a dungeon, slowly clear the already made constructs, and have complete control. As far as our partnership, after defeating the attacking dungeon, Rewp would prefer to maintain a beneficial relationship. After all, within a moon cycle, your domain will also reach our borders. Eventually, we must live together or fight for territory.¡±
I thought about his proposal. Letting a colony of pixies inhabit my dungeon seems dangerous if they turned against me, but then they would also acclimatize. How could they fight when I could directly manipulate the air out of their lungs or simply use my limbs to rip off heads? A direct attacker from the outside not acclimatized is a bigger threat and the pixies would assist in defense from outsiders.
Taking my pause for hesitancy, Finn added, ¡°Additionally, a whole colony of pixies living within your domain also means that various forms of death from our members or livestock gives you significant energy.¡±
I already decided, but that reasoning certainly made me feel better about my choice.
¡°I will accept your proposal of allyship. What is the situation with the dungeon, how have you battled it so far?¡±
¡°Four rotations ago one of our hunters flew into the domain of a dungeon not far from our colony. Since then we sustained increasingly large monster attacks once a rotation. The last one occurred shortly before my squad came here. Thus, we should have almost a full rotation before the next wave.¡±
Thinking over the attacks, I found the attacks odd.
¡°Why does the dungeon not store up monsters for one giant attack? The energy cost of making monsters that can travel outside a domain is significantly more than making constructs, which cannot leave. The dungeon wasted massive amounts of energy with smaller attacks.¡±
¡°We¡¯re dealing with a young dungeon without true intelligence yet. It is driven by instinct, only the oldest and most powerful dungeons gain true sapience. Except you, inexplicably.¡±
¡°Right. In that case, we should capitalize on its lack of strategy. Using my constructs to defeat its monsters will drain its energy at little cost to me. However, I need more energy to build constructs, I wiped out most of my resources fighting the mongagers.¡± My mind already started racing, trying to figure out every advantage we could manage.
¡°Our shepherds will bring our livestock for slaughter. In addition, the King will make a proclamation that the terminally sick should move to your domain until it covers our colony,¡± Finn somberly stated.
¡°Thank you. I will honor them and see if I can ease their passing.¡± A part of me felt wrong accepting such a sacrifice, but the pixies were already dying. This way their death would help protect their loved ones.
After a moment of silence, Finn shook his head and continued, ¡°Alright, enough talk, let¡¯s kill a dungeon,¡± he said with a grin.
Finn left with his squad to return with news of the new allyship and begin our plans. In the meantime, I rebuilt my defenses. First I healed Avir¡¯s wing, which took some time but did not require significant energy. Then I spawned hundreds of ubee and ant constructs that died in the mongager fight. Finally, I formed a dozen constructs of different birds for Avir to command. I needed more creatures to make different types of constructs. For now, I need to gather more energy before I can give life to a new mongager monster.
As I finished, Finn entered my domain to the North with two other pixies leading a few dozen yeetles. The beetle-like yeetles immediately leaped to eat my lush flowers, letting out their signature chirp ¡°Yeet!¡±
Finn waved generally in the air, ¡°Greetings Riva, I brought the yeetles that we plan to slaughter tonight. These brothers are the shepherds Poz and Joz,¡± he gestured to the two pixies. Poz was a tall, lanky pixie with messy hair and attention darting everywhere. In contrast, Joz lazily hovered at the back of the yeetle pack, stocky and wide. Finn continued, ¡°they will collect the meat and shells. If you need anything of them, let me know.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Poz leaned over to Finn and whispered, ¡°Are you sure this is the best idea, your highness? We¡¯re feeding a glatting dungeon.¡±
Finn responded in a loud and commanding voice, ¡°Are you questioning the judgment of the royal family? This solution is best for our situation and so far Riva proved herself trustworthy. Also, she can hear any whispering in her domain.¡±
Seeing he insulted his prince and I heard his comment, Poz turned pale and nervously scratched the back of his head. ¡°Forgive me, I didn¡¯t mean no disrespect your highness and Miss Riva,¡± he rapidly stammered and bowed his head.
¡°Tell him no offense taken, I understand the connotations around dungeons and that I am the exception. I hope my actions will show him and the other pixies that I am trustworthy.¡± I thought to Finn.
After Finn conveyed my message, Poz visibly relaxed. By now the trio led the yeetles to a clearing and began to separate out individuals. I took the opportunity to inspect the yeetles further, they had a long, oval torso, black with green zig-zags, and a small head with two massive spiky horns.
Soon small, ¡°yeet¡± whimpers could be heard as Poz and Joz got to work gathering the beetle meat. The sight saddened me, but I reminded myself that the pixies do this all the time to eat. The lovely rush of energy helped distract me as well.
¡°Finn, how long will it take for your auras to adjust to my domain? I need to continue preparing for the battle,¡± I thought to Finn.
¡°Oh, my apologies. Poz, Joz, open yourselves up.¡±
At his order, the three auras suddenly turned from impenetrable forces into malleable and shrinking bubbles. Within seconds they disappeared completely. To test out my renewed powers and show my gratitude, I coaxed a root out of the ground into the form of a sled and then disconnected it. I essentially made a large vine basket two runners since they worked better than wheels on the uneven ground.
¡°Thank you and here, you may use this sled to transfer the meat back to Rewp,¡± I said
The pixies stared in wonder as roots magically manipulated themselves before their eyes. My words broke their stupor. ¡°Ah, I completely forgot we will need to bring them back. Keep working you two, I will return with help,¡± Finn ordered Poz and Joz before he turned to go.
¡°Wait, Finn. Do your people have any other domestic creatures that I could get a sample of? I currently feel like I am lacking a proper arsenal of monsters that I can create,¡± I inquired.
After a moment of consideration, Finn responded, ¡°Hmm, we have a few different types of insects but most of them are too small or friendly to be useful in combat. The next time I return, I will bring one of our strategists. Soon healers will also bring our two mostly sickly pixies who likely only have a few rotations left.¡±
¡°I understand.¡±
Before Finn flew out of sight, I¡¯d already begun preparing to expand my domain again. By now the dying pack of yeetles filled my capacity to halfway. I slowly infused my domain with energy from my core and rotated it. I kept the speed controlled and slow. For now, I wanted to keep more control than the last time I expanded.
I continued experimenting with my control. First, I accelerated or decelerated the body of energy. Moving it around en masse felt like wind blowing around inside my body. I tried concentrating all of it on the outskirts of my domain to make a ring and finally centered it. More of the yeetles¡¯ energy joined the storm as they died. Try as I might I couldn¡¯t force the energy beyond a certain rotational speed. This meant the farther from my core the greater the tangential speed as it needed to follow a larger circumference.
When I felt the moment right, I pushed all of it into a compact layer on the edge of my domain. I pushed it to my maximum speed. Then immediately I shrunk the layer as quickly as I could. This slingshotted the energy toward and past me. As it passed me and flew towards the edge of my domain, I pushed with all my might.
The end result was spectacular. Between speeding up the energy in a spin, pulling it towards me, and then pushing it away, I managed to propel my it much farther than before. My domain expanded one and a half times as far as my last attempt.
The flood of new information dazed me for a few seconds. In addition to more forest life, I also noticed the start of a mountain to my south, the river to the east raged downstream, and a few interesting veins of ore hidden deep below ground. But those explorations would need to wait. To my northeast, I now noticed the edge of the pixie kingdom.
Most of the pixies lived in tall, hollowed out tree trunks. Although I noticed two giant skulls used as homes. I made a note to myself. Don¡¯t anger pixies. In addition to the ¡°homes,¡± a variety of bridges, ropes, and nets wove through the trees. The reason quickly became apparent as three young pixie children ran into view. The last girl tripped and fell off a walking platform. Although she flapped vigorously, her wings did not support her and she plummeted into the net.
The other two children poked their head over the edge of the platform, laughing and pointing. The speech sounded like gibberish, but I could tell the young girl felt embarrassed and angry. In response to the shouting, a stern an older pixie appeared. The set of her shoulders and bags under her eyes showed extreme stress and fear. Quickly, she carried the girl back up to the platforms, and shuffled them all back out of my domain. The older woman seemed skittish, looking around and harried. Had the adults noticed my presence?
As if to answer my question, Finn flew into view. Another male pixie followed shortly behind. The newcomer held himself rigidly, had a sharp haircut, and wore a sharp uniform with a metal circlet around his upper arm.
¡°Riva, is that you? How did you push your domain out this far so quickly?¡±, Finn¡¯s arms waved animatedly in distress. ¡°We nearly launched an attack before we realized the domain came from your area of the forest!¡±
¡°I should have thought to warn you, I apologize. I don¡¯t know how I differ from other dungeons, but I expand a large amount all at once,¡± I thought to him, ¡°and who is the other pixie?¡±
Finn let out a frustrated sigh. ¡°Well, as long as you know to keep me informed. This gentleman is Commander Jarh Ead. He is the primary tactician for the royal army and will coordinate with you on battle strategy. Through me you should be able to think into his mind.¡±
¡°I must admit I¡¯m not fond of working with a dungeon after all your kind has done,¡± Jarh said. ¡°But if I can give those glatters a whooping with their own monsters I¡¯ll be a happy man. Let¡¯s not waste any more time on small talk, let¡¯s plan a slaughter.¡±
¡°I agree wholeheartedly.¡±
Chapter 10: First Invasion
Over the next few hours, the three of us discussed previous attacks. The first night the dungeon attacked with giant toads that snatched pixies out of the sky with their tongues. The night after that, carnivorous flying squirrels rained down from the treetops while the toads attacked from below. Finally, last night added earth-touched monkeys. These monsters almost defeated the pixies with their near-impenetrable skin and keen stone throwing abilities. For a few seconds at a time, a monkey could even cover their skin in rock armor for even more protection. Fortunately, there¡¯d been only four earth monkeys. However, by now the pixie forces largely lay in sickbeds, injured, or exhausted. If not for my alliance, they would have fled, but to where? Finding a patch of forest safe from another dungeon or powerful monsters was rare.
Tonight, some greater creature would challenge us along with the previous waves. Currently, we planned to use my ants and ubees in swarm tactics. My ants should easily overwhelm the toads, while my ubees took on squirrels. This left the earth monkeys and whatever new threat appeared. Defeating the earth monkeys would require immobilization and focusing weak spots such as the eyes and mouth. That left the pixies and Avir¡¯s ariel squad to handle the new threat.
In order to immobilize the monkeys, I needed to prep the battlefield. First, I collected strong sap from the inside the trees and coated as many trunks and vines as I could. Second, I built thirty horrible, disturbing constructs. Spiders. I forced myself to tweak their molds to make them larger and produce stronger webs. After setting them to their task, I quickly shifted my focus back to Finn. Away from creepy eight legged creatures.
I noticed Finn speaking to a squad of perhaps a hundred pixies. Many of them wore bloody bandages and struggled to keep flying. Their movements sluggish and lethargic. The majority wore standard brown bark vests, armguards, and leg guards with a thorn sword at their side. Only the dozen who helped me defeat the mongager wore black dyed armor and blade. They were the elite soldiers, capable of using magic. Looking at the equipment, I wasn¡¯t impressed. Once I had the time, I planned on crafting improvements. But now, the sun crept below the horizon.
¡°Finn, how long until the attack?¡±
He squinted at the disappearing light. ¡°Not long, the enemy will approach shortly after dark. How much energy do you have left?¡±
¡°Only enough to make the traps you suggested, not any more constructs after that,¡± I apologetically reported. Unfortunately, the spiders required more energy than I¡¯d expected.
¡°Understood. Then make the spike traps in a line as far as you can with one opening to bottleneck them.¡±
¡°Will do.¡±
I turned quickly to my task. Gathered mounds of dirt and began moving them, a bit at a time, until I''d cleared a four-click trench around the perimeter. The hardest deposits were compacted into stone spikes at the base of it. Encouraging the roots of a nearby tree to conceal the opening, I waited until they''d done their job before turning them brittle. A false floor of leaves finished the job.
Returning to Finn, I informed him of my progress. ¡°I am as ready as I can be. During the battle, I will try to coordinate my constructs, but I cannot take direct action.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
With all the preparations complete, we waited in silence for a few spins. The sun dipped below the horizon and a faint din could be heard in the distance. Not making a sound, two pixie scouts appeared in our sight. Dirt clung to their clothes and sheen of sweat covered them. Immediately they rushed to give a report to Commander Jarh.
¡°Sir, one scout down. Same enemy forces as before with the addition of new creatures. Unfortunately, we were unable to see more than a silhouette of the new monsters before they spotted us and forced us to flee.¡± His task complete, he collapsed, panting, on a tree branch to recover for the battle.
Jarh did not pause, immediately giving orders. ¡°Attention soldiers. Today we fight again for our home, our loved ones, and our lives! Riva has already bolstered our defenses tremendously. With tonight¡¯s victory, we do more than survive. Tonight...tonight we triumph!¡±
Ending his speech with a roar, the soldiers responded in turn, lifting their swords. Almost in answer, we heard a rumble of different sounds just ahead. Croaks, shrieks, and grumbling warbles.
First, we saw the ground itself appear to jump up and down. A swarm of toads. Shortly behind them, the leaves in the trees rustled and I glimpsed the giant squirrels leaping from tree to tree. So far no monkeys or other monsters appeared though.
We all waited for their charge. Almost¡¡°Eva, now!¡± I ordered.
As the first toads fell into my spike traps, Eva and the other ubees swooped down from the sky behind them. The toads tried to stop, leaving them bunched together and unable to move. Some tried to leap past the trap and failed. The rest fought the swarm around them. But with hundreds of ubees, they stood no chance. This was a battle of attrition they could not win.
Meanwhile, the squirrels discovered my ants in the trees. Already the furry creatures turned into a mass of biting ants. The screams they released almost made me feel bad for them.
The monkeys and some new monsters broke through the brush. They was a hunched humanoid frog monster with a giant mouth of sharp teeth, bulging eyes, and fleshy spikes coming out of their backs. The odd blue and yellow creatures stood a click tall and each held a net and spear. Fortunately, only two dozen monkeys and six of these creatures appeared.
¡°Riva, those are colrums! Our swords won¡¯t be able to do any damage to their thick skin. They¡¯re vicious warriors and their signature battle cry strikes fear into even the most elite adventurers!¡± Finn his voice shaking in worry.
¡°Can your mages blow them up like you did the mongagers?¡±
¡°We can manage two spells, but they need to be immobilized. The spell is too easy to dodge otherwise.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Jarh piped in at this point, ¡°Riva, use your ubees to distract the colrums. Buy time for us pixies and Avir¡¯s squad of hawks to defeat the monkeys before dealing with the colrums.¡±
I diverted Eva¡¯s swarm as suggested. The colrums swung their spears ineffectively but they received no damage either. Unfortunately, this alleviated the pressure from the toads, allowing them to recover. The monkeys needed to be dealt with swiftly.
Pixies charged directly at the monkeys. Stones pelted a few out of the sky, but they did not stop their assault. The first pixies reached their targets, aiming for eyes, when the hawk squad swooped from above. Avir took point, the rest following him in a ¡®V¡¯. Thanks to the pixie¡¯s diversion, powerful talons raked tender flesh.
On his own, Avir managed to shred one throat, arterial spray coating his feathers. The other hawks followed with varying degrees of success. As the surprise wore off, the earth monkeys¡¯ swiftly retaliated. Two hawk constructs died, another fell to the ground, wing bones poking out.
A full on brawl broke out. Strategy broke down. Toads killed ubees who still desperately blinded the colrums. Ants overran squirrels. Spiders wrapped the few monsters unfortunate to stumble into a web. Pixies and hawks chaotically fought the monkeys. Unfortunately, birds of prey thrive as ambush predators, not drawn out battle.
Two shrill shrieks caught my attention. A monkey had hit two pixies with one stone and now scrambled over to where they lay. He raised his fists to crush the immobilized pixies. A blur of feathers struck his face, knocking the monkey back. Immediately the monkey activated his stone skin ability. That did not stop Avir. He bit the monkey¡¯s nose and scratched at the throat. But his talons barely scratched the magically hardened skin.
To my horror, the monkey reached up and grabbed Avir around the neck. Beak broke through nose. But the bloody monkey did not stop. In a flash, his incisors bit down and severed Avir¡¯s head.
¡°Avir, no!¡± I sobbed.
Seconds too late, two hawks rushed the monkey who killed my friend. The battle seemed far away, I couldn¡¯t hear a thing as I reeled. An eternity later, but simultaneously no time at all, the monkey ran out energy for stoneskin. With normal flesh again, he died easily.
The surge of energy shocked me out of my stupor. Later, I will mourn. For now I felt painfully full. Plenty of creatures still lived, I needed to expel this energy before it killed me.
¡°Finn, I must leave for a while. If I don¡¯t, I am going to break.¡±
Immediately I gave the orders to Eva, then raced away, not taking the time to listen to what Finn shouted. As fast as I could, I flew to the opposite edge of my domain. I can¡¯t think about Avir right now, or who else might be dying this second. I must focus. Here, the auras of the monsters did not reach and I could manipulate my energy again. Another, much larger surge, hit me then.
Grabbing the three mongager corpses I stashed here earlier, I began to envision the monster I wanted to create. Immediately I imagined a massive mongager with powerful shoulders and long, deadly claws. The original mongagers dodged amazingly, but I felt they needed to deal more damage. With my mental mold complete, I placed it over the corpses of the three mongagers. Immediately the familiar void appeared, gluttonously gorging itself on all the energy I offered. More and more energy flowed out of me. Just as I began to run low, the void finished its demands.
Two massive bursts of energy flooded me. The pixies must have defeated two of the larger creatures and I felt half-full again. As an experiment, I prevented the void from closing and shoved more energy into it. At first, there was a slight resistance, but the resistance increased as I added more. By the time my energy ran low again, I could not push energy into the void any further. I let it close.
As I watched, the bodies of the mongagers flowed like clay, merging together, twisting, warping. When they finally settled, the form held still, suspended. Something remained to be done before he could come to life, but I didn¡¯t know what.
Seconds passed. Behind me, in the background, the flakking monkeys screeched in battle. Of course!
Focusing on my mongager again, I tried to push air into him, and to my relief, it worked. The physical air converted to a form of energy, but I couldn¡¯t determine how the transfer occurred. Regardless, I filled my mongager up with air energy and his fur began to flow in a nonexistent breeze. I watched life spark into his eyes as he truly came alive.
¡°Ggrrsss,¡± my air-touched mongager growled as he bowed his head.
¡°I name you Batoor. Unfortunately, I must ask you to go to battle immediately. Work with my other creatures and the pixies to repel the invaders. Focus on the large frogmen,¡± I ordered.
Batoor darted off, his feet barely touching the ground. Flak, he was fast! Racing to catch up, we reached the battle at the same time. Batoor turned into wind for a second, splitting in half and reforming on the other side of a tree. Now he was in a perfect position and tackled a colrum, his claws easily rending flesh. As he continued to maul the monster, I evaluated the rest of the battlefield.
Only a handful of frogs and squirrels remained. My ubees and ants took heavy losses but remained dominant in their respective fights. Four monkeys lay dead on the ground, one scampered along, heaving rocks at pixies and my birds. As I watched he pelted a pixie, crushing her ribs, causing instant death. In a sneak attack, another hawk attempted to rake his back but the monkey drew a layer of rocks out of his back at the last second. The other two monkeys struggled in my spiders¡¯ webbing, partially caught. The spiders slowly but carefully entangled them in more webs. That only left the four-a wave of energy slammed into me-three colrums left. They threw their nets at the flitting pixies. One pixie screamed out in a net before a colrum speared him.
¡°Jarh, how are your troops?¡± I asked.
¡°We¡¯re taking heavy losses, we can¡¯t hurt them with our swords and the flakkers won¡¯t stay still enough for a spell. They work as a team, too; if one gets caught in a web, the others cut him out,¡± he reported.
¡°Tell your casters I¡¯m going to pin them down and to fire when they have a shot,¡± I commanded. ¡°The blast won¡¯t hurt my mongager.¡± To Batoor I said, ¡°Corner the colrums between the webs and spike traps, then get ready for a spell to wipe them out.¡±
My hawks and air-infused mongager slowly herded the three remaining colrums. They tried to throw nets at Batoor, but he turned into wind and they sailed harmlessly through him. Unfortunately, he could not get past their spears to attack them either. With the three remaining monsters in place, I heard Finn shout ¡°Cyfur uln faqer,¡± right before the pixies released the spell. It shot true, hitting the middle colrum and exploding to the nearby two. Batoor turned to wind and the hawks flew away in time. We all watched as the final three monsters rapidly decayed before us.
Then the energy hit.
¡°Uughghh!¡± I screamed out in pain. Why does this always happen? Out of frustration, I searched for the cause of the pain within my core and found the chaotic energy raging in my poorly held together core. While I found plenty of empty space, entire areas were sealed off from each other. In desperation, I broke down the walls to these empty places. The pain lessened with each one. Even after I opened them all, though, I was still in danger. The chaos recoiled around the unorganized structure within me. Now I need to fix that. An unknown amount of time and abundance of pain later, I finished reorganizing my internal structure. Now, the energy flowed smoothly and my capacity rose exponentially. Exhaustion washed over me.
¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± I managed to say to Finn before I passed out.
Chapter 11: The Plan
¡°Hey Sernith, how¡¯s the shop going, any trouble with fire beetles?¡± I inquired.
Chapter 12: Emotions
For now, I need to address pressing matters. Moving towards the pixie kingdom, Rewp, I passed by the battle¡¯s aftermath. The attacking monsters lay there, feeding insects, but I saw no evidence of pixies or my monsters. Additionally, by now the bodies of my constructs dispersed back into energy. Magic cannot create matter from nothing. Constructs are simply energy given form and that is undone in death. Quickly, I continued to Rewp.
I¡¯m back,¡± I thought to Finn, hopefully not interrupting something important. ¡°How long was I gone?¡±
I am well. At the end of the battle, the energy I absorbed overwhelmed me. But that won¡¯t happen again. Not even absorbing 1,000 colrums would harm me now.¡±
I am glad your brothers survived,¡± I responded, unable to say much about strangers.
Greetings your majesties. I am glad to assist and could not have succeeded without the help of your military.¡± Additionally, to Finn only, I sent, ¡°What happened to your brothers? They seem emaciated, not suffering battle wounds.¡±
Please raise your head, I only did what any normal person would in my position. Assisting also benefited me,¡± I replied.
I am certain our allyship will grow even stronger with time,¡± I reciprocated to the Queen. However, as I finished, Topit suddenly dipped from his hover and fell. Quickly two guards caught the Prince, but he lay limp in their arms.
Farewell your majesties,¡± I called to them as they left.
I can¡¯t believe I did not think of that before,¡± I admitted. Immediately I called Batoor to our location. Then to Finn, I said, ¡°Would you take Batoor and the hawks hunting with you? They can help collect prey.¡±
Sounds excellent, call if you need me,¡± I replied. Returning to the battlefield, I mentally told Batoor to hunt with Finn and listen to his commands.
Looking at the corpses of the enemy monsters, I decided to create a colrum monster first. They appeared to be the most intelligent and deadly creature I encountered so far.
Welcome to life, Eikooc,¡± I chimed, happy to create life rather than destroy it.
I hope that you will enjoy life with me, but there will be times I need your assistance in battle. Is that okay?¡±
I¡¯ll take that as a yes, let¡¯s make you some allies then,¡± I said while chuckling.
Sounds like you need an upgrade,¡± I sent to both of them. For once they looked directly at me while responding, the lump of metal I held gave away my position.
Let me borrow your sword, Commander,¡± I said as I lifted the blackthorn sword out of the sheath. I inspected it closely. A long blade, simple circular crossguard, and ridged grip formed the blade. In a moment, I copied the exact shape mentally. I absentmindedly returned the blade and ignored his questions. I turned my focus inward.
Tell me your thoughts General,¡± I smugly sent to the awed pixie and subsequently dropped the sword in his hands.
End them quickly. Don¡¯t worry, I can absorb significantly more without harming myself now.¡± I reassured everyone.
Batoor you¡¯re only allowed to hurt him a little, okay? No playing with other pixies though,¡± I instructed my little trouble maker. He bobbed his head and licked his lips.
I disagree,¡± I said with one last chuckle.
Leave the boars, but the rest may be a treat for your hard work.¡±
Welcome to life, Orsa. I hope you enjoy your time with us. At times I may call upon you for battle, but I hope you enjoy living here."
I couldn¡¯t save Avir,¡± I solemnly responded. A moment of silence went by.
I know. Come, we need to make a few final preparations for tonight.¡±
Chapter 13: Queen
I know. Come, we need to make a few final preparations for tonight," I sent to Finn.
The rest of the rotation we spent on final preparations before waiting several hours. The pixies drilled with their new swords. I made nine razor-tusk boar constructs. Everyone kept the mood light, distracting us from wondering which of us won''t survive the night.
Shortly after the sunset, we heard them again. But this time only the war cries of monkeys and colrums echoed through the forest.
"The dungeon decided not to bother with smaller monsters anymore," Finn warned.
"Then it is getting desperate. It must be low on energy."
Everyone fell into silence. Not long after, we saw the first of our opponents burst through the brush on the other side of the clearing. A few earth touched monkeys could be seen, but the bulk of the horde consisted of colrums. Forty, fifty, no- at least sixty charged us. Each carried a spear and net. I saw the fear wash through the pixie army, soldiers shuffling their feet, knuckles white on their weapons at the sight of our foes.
My constructs, however, felt no fear or any other emotion. They silently awaited my command. Patiently, I waited until they passed the halfway point.
¡°Now,¡± I sent to Orsa.
With a squeal, ten trees on the right side violently shook. Creaking and groaning, the massive trunks fell in a boom that reverberated throughout the field. From above, I could see the battlefield was now divided into rows between the trees. Already, a dozen colrums lay flattened and the rest of them stumbling or knocked down.
By this time, Eva¡¯s ubees swarmed them, blinding and stinging any vulnerable targets. From the side of the forest, my razor-tusk boars emerged. After successfully collapsing the trees, they charged in a v formation, Orsa in the lead. Any spears aimed her way skittered harmlessly against her rock skin. The blinded and disorientated colrums stood no chance.
In the wake of their stampede, my boars left broken and bloody monsters behind for others to finish off. Some of the agile monkeys managed to climb out of the boar¡¯s way in time but were soon struck down. My own earth-touched monkey pelted large rocks from the shelf on the treetops. With his magic helping to guide the stones and his height advantage, nearly every throw resulted in a kill.
The pixies cleaned up the crippled and dying colrums while my boars charged down the next row. The process repeated itself. With the attacking horde separated by the trunks and distracted by ubees, the stampede slaughter continued. Only the very last few colrums managed to properly prepare a defense. They formed two lines, the first bracing their spears and second ready to throw their nets. Unfortunately for them, a sneaky air-touched mongager appeared behind them. Batoor ripped through three colrums before they turned around to fight him. But that left enough of a gap for the boars to take advantage of, breaking past the line of spears. Tusks flashed, blood sprayed, the colrums fell dead.
The whole battle lasted perhaps ten spins. Compared to the previous battle, this one certainly felt anticlimactic.
However, the aftermath proved more complicated than before. All the energy couldn¡¯t absorb into me fast enough. Through the heady rush, I remarked some of it beginning to dissipate. I moved to quickly spend some energy in order to take in more when I noticed it wasn¡¯t actually disappearing. Instead, it flowed into my monsters. Oddly, none of the pixies or constructs were affected. Something certainly interesting was going on here, but before I could investigate further, Finn interrupted me.
¡°Have I mentioned lately how glad you¡¯re on our side?¡± he asked with a laugh.
Ignoring him, I focused on Jarh ¡°How many pixies did we lose?¡±
At first, I didn¡¯t think he heard me, but suddenly he jerked out of his reverie. ¡°Huh? So far only one, but I will need to check with Healer Wilona to see if all the injured will pull through. Looks like only a few are in critical condition.¡±
I felt my tension and worry ease up. ¡°Good. I lost a few constructs, but fortunately no monsters. The traps worked better than expected.¡±
¡°You can say that again,¡± Finn muttered.
With the immediate concerns out of the way, I flew over to the battlefield to address the buildup of energy. The piles of colrum corpses painted a grisly picture. Yet, I felt only slightly disturbed. These were invaders, attempting to kill those I swore to protect the home that I nurtured. I felt a moment of pity for their existence, given life via a dungeon who treated their lives no different than constructs. Then the moment ended.
Gathering the bodies of the colrums into one giant pile, I went to work. I started the process of making a new monster. This time I wanted to try making an air-touched colrum. Except when before I could start infusing air energy, I noticed the new corpse already began soaking up blood. Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have started it literally in a pool of blood. Regardless, the process couldn¡¯t be stopped now. I satiated the void.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.The resulting colrum largely appeared no different. Except for black veins contrasting against unusually pale flesh.
¡°Welcome to life, Akeldama. I hope you enjoy your time with us. However, I confess I mistakenly gave you blood magic instead of air. The stigma may cause issues, even I''m not sure how your magic will develop."
Akeldama said nothing, only giving a subtle nod as an indication that she heard me. I would ask Jarh to help me keep an eye on her. But my hesitancy would not stop me from seizing a unique opportunity. So I created three more blood-touched colrums before moving on to making four air, four earth, four water, and twenty-three normal colrum monsters.
Jarh flew up beside me to observe our newest allies. ¡°Riva, are you ready to attack? This battle was a complete rout for the enemy. We should press the advantage.¡±
¡°I agree, you want to attack tomorrow then?¡±
¡°No, let¡¯s move out within the hour,¡± he clarified.
For a second I thought I misheard him, but his countenance was determined. ¡°That seems sudden, are you sure? Aren¡¯t your troops tired?¡±
¡°Tired from what? Your constructs did all the work. Right now they¡¯re high from such a decisive victory, especially after barely managing to survive so many past nights. Moral won¡¯t get higher.¡±
"Okay, give me a little bit of time. Right now I won''t be able to see the fight or help coordinate.¡±
I returned back to my core and called Eva.
¡°Bzz bz?¡± she asked.
¡°I¡¯ll show you what I need in a moment. Let me make the preparations.¡±
After the battle I noticed Eva absorbed a significant amount of ambient energy. She currently doesn¡¯t have any magic affinity and I want to see what I can change. I instructed her to touch my core. Once she did I felt her life force brush against mine.
Her mind shone brightly to my inner eye, an ephemeral mass roughly in the shape of her physical body. But this basic representation created plenty of inadequacies. I didn¡¯t realize it at the time, but when I connected to Finn not long ago his consciousness almost perfectly matched his physical form. So, I carefully began to redirect the energy that made Eva¡¯s consciousness to better represent her.
A sharp and regal horn, majestic wings, strong thorax and abdomen, elegant legs, and more. I lost myself in improving her. Once I finished, I admired my work. She¡¯s wonderful.
Refocusing to the outer world, I looked at her, ¡°How do you feel Eva?¡±
¡°Mother, I can speak! My thoughts are more clear than ever before, I cannot describe the sensation,¡± she exclaimed as she circled my core. Her energetic flight and content buzzing told me more than any words could.
¡°I am glad. Now, I want your permission to make one more change to you. Lately, I¡¯ve noticed that I have a countless number of tasks to do. I need help running this dungeon. I want you to make you my dungeon...administrator? No, Master? That doesn¡¯t work either. Ah, Dungeon Queen is perfect. If you wish, you will be my Dungeon Queen.¡±
¡°I would be honored, but I do not know if my best efforts will be satisfactory,¡± she humbly replied.
I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°You are a Queen Ubee. The leader of one of the hardest working, most organized collections of creatures in nature. You instinctually multitask and delegate. All when you were only sentient, now you are sapient and more capable than ever.¡±
¡°If you believe in me Mother, I will too.¡±
¡°Hold still a moment.¡±
I instinctually knew that in order for Eva to command a portion of my power she needed a portion of me. Looking over my core, I selected a rough portion of my outer surface and shaved off a sliver. Moving it to Eva, I placed it on her brow bone. Just below her horn and in between her eyes.
Hoping this would work, I started infusing the sliver with my own energy and eventually added in some that Eva absorbed after the battle. I felt her discomfort but continued until I could add no more.
¡°How do you feel?¡±
¡°Uncomfortably full.¡±
¡°Ah, yes. Can you transfer energy to me?¡±
A moment later I felt a bit flow into me. ¡°I can,¡± she said, then I felt a small tug, ¡°but I can¡¯t take any back.¡±
¡°I felt you tugging though. Feel free to ask for more whenever you need to. Now, one last experiment. Could you go right outside of my domain?¡±
Following her to the edge of my domain, I then once again turned to my inner eye. There, I saw a thread leaving my core, leading to Eva. Moving along it, I opened my eyes again and saw myself looking out of the sliver. The sensation was disturbing. I couldn¡¯t move at all. I simply sat there, along for the ride.
Retreating from the disturbing sensation, I found my consciousness exiting my core. Great, just what I needed, another confusing way to perceive the world. Sometimes I wish I had a simple, humanoid body.
Shaking off the frustration, I went to find Jarh. We had a dungeon to invade.
Chapter 14: My Alliconda Dont
Eva, could you scout ahead with your ubees?¡± I sent to her.
Alright, let''s go back and warn the others.¡±
Eva, we need to take out the core. Send in the pixie elites.¡±
Ch 15: Important Poll
Lindra never made any power plays until she set up Herp. The majority of her peers didn¡¯t know her name before. She was a charity case. Some nobody
Now, the last few rotations everyone tasted her name on their lips, whispering her actions from ear to ear.
¡°-sorry,¡± Bori finished his apology. Geoff went before him. Now, only Herp remained.
¡°Several rotations ago I shamefully participated in an unprovoked attack on Lindra Hafestrus. This is not the first time, but it will be the last. I have shamed myself,¡± Herp eyes flicked down and he continued through gritted teeth, ¡°and I am sorry. Please forgive me.¡± In the end, he bowed his head. Murmurs spread through the room. The nephew of the King lowered his head to a commoner.
Lindra wanted to let them hold that position for a while but knew she already pressed her luck.
¡°Please, raise your heads. I accept your words and I am sure your actions will restore your honor. Let us be classmates again and move on from this.¡±
The more preceptive students in the class noticed that Lindra never said she accepted their apology and even challenged their future behavior. For all his cruelty, Herp was among these perceptive students. So he held his arms behind his back to hide his white-knuckled fists and forced his face blank. Getting revenge would require a great number of resources and time, but he swore it on his soul.
Lindra limped home by herself later that evening. Exiting a door from the academy hallway, she saw Meyn walking with his sister and forced her limbs to move normally.
¡°Meyn! How have you been, any plans this afternoon?¡±
He turned to her, incredulous. ¡°How have I been? Certainly not making nobles look like a bunch of drocks, what were you thinking?¡±
¡°Even everyone in the lower classes is talking about it too,¡± his little sister, Feyn, added.
¡°Eh, is it that big of a deal? The dean was pushing the investigator to arrest them, which he didn¡¯t want to do, so I just offered to let them apologize and promise to leave me alone. I figured this was a better option.¡±
Meyn sighed. ¡°Oh, Lindra. A noble¡¯s image is everything. Extorting a thousand golden yits to keep quiet would have gone over better than an apology.¡±
A chill ran down Lindra¡¯s spine. Her step hitched. She blundered this up horribly. These last few rotations she felt safer than in ages. Sore and in pain, but safe. Now, she¡¯s never been in more danger.
The three walked in silence out the school and through the city streets. When their paths home reached a divergence, Meyn spoke again.
¡°You¡¯ll get through this Lindra. My family can¡¯t help directly, but I can tell some of our informants to watch out for anything related to you. For a while, you¡¯ll be safe anyways. Don¡¯t worry until people start to forget the incident.¡±
With those somewhat encouraging words, they split.
Lindra somberly limped the rest of the way home. Entering the front door, she was shocked to see not only her parents but also Verdint sitting at their table. The ex-adventurer turned guard captain solemnly looked at her.
Her father patted the chair next to him ¡°Lindra, sit down, we need to talk.¡±
Once she was settled, Verdint spoke. ¡°I heard about the apology and came to talk to your parents right away. You need political protection, this has moved beyond childhood bullying.¡±
Her mom interrupted, ¡°We¡¯re proud of you for trying to take responsibility yourself. Normally, your plan would¡¯ve worked wonderfully. But you should have asked for help in this case¡¡±
Lindra looked down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I know I made a few mistakes. Meyn told me on the way home.¡±
¡°Well, this will be slightly easier to explain. Your father and I go way back, he forged my weapons during my adventuring prime. So I am willing to take you in as a trainee at the barracks. You need protection. Knowing how to defend yourself will help, but the real goal of training you is to teach combat knowledge. Difficult to create new inventions without knowing what is needed, eh? Your crossbow design impressed a lot of people. Invent another few devices like that and you can earn an apprenticeship under Parvik. He is one of the only people in Koph able to protect you from Herp.¡± Verdint stood up and grabbed his coat. ¡°You dreamed about working with Kopth¡¯s greatest inventor, but now you need to become his apprentice. I am afraid you will not survive Herp¡¯s machinations otherwise.¡±
With that final ominous remark, he left.
Lindra scampered to the other side of the table. Sat in her mother¡¯s lap. Buried her face in her mother¡¯s shoulder. And cried.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
They were tears of a young, frightened girl. But deep within her, a spark of excitement and determination formed.
Two rotations later Lindra stood outside the barracks¡¯ gates. On her left, her father carried the two bags. With that little amount of luggage, she was ready to move into the barracks for two sun cycles. This would be the second time the barracks changed her life forever.
A guard shuffled his way over and opened the locks. ¡°Miss Lindra?¡± She noded. ¡°Then this way, we¡¯ll get you to the women¡¯s quarters.
They walked over to a long, plain wooden building at the corner of the property. There weren¡¯t any decorations visible. Except, carved into the door, Lindra saw a drawing of a tall mushroom connected to two hairy circles at the bottom being pierced with an arrow.
The guard awkwardly coughed, ¡°Maybe we should knock first.¡± He did.
Lindra tugged on her father¡¯s shirt and pointed to the carving, ¡°Do they go hunting for mushrooms here?¡±
Both her father and the guard burst into laughter. She couldn¡¯t understand why. The door opened to reveal a workout-clothed monster of a woman. A scar bisected her cheek and eyebrow. Her biceps bulged as she crossed her arms. The men quickly sobered up.
¡°Ahm, here is the new trainee, Miss Lindra. Cap¡¯n said to bring her when she¡¯s settled,¡± then the guard scurried off.
The woman eyed the two of them. ¡°Well, come in then,¡± she said and beckoned, ¡°my name¡¯s Fiona. Your bed is next to mine in the back.¡±
The duo followed her, between two rows of beds, to the back wall and the only empty mattress. Lindra¡¯s father placed the bags down.
¡°I should go now, Lindy. Watch out for yourself. Come visit frequently, your mother is going to struggle to see you so little.¡±
Lindra simply nodded and ran into his embrace. A minute later they separated. She watched him walk away until the door softly clicked behind him.
¡°You¡¯re a bit young, but we¡¯ve had younger trainees. At least your face says you¡¯ve been in at least one fight before.¡±
Lindra simply nodded. Eleven sun cycles felt too young to leave home, but many children left for apprenticeships by their ninth sun cycle.
¡°Let¡¯s get you to the Cap¡¯n then.¡±
Together the woman and girl walked through the facility. They passed a familiar archery range, an open field of dirt filled with drilling soldiers, and the men¡¯s quarters. Strangely, their door didn¡¯t have the mushroom hunting symbol carved into it. When they reached the last building more people scurried about doing various tasks. Finally, they entered Verdint¡¯s office. Parchment lay scattered around his desk, his brows furled.
¡°Sir!¡± Fiona snapped a salute, her right arm bending at a right angle horizontally across her sternum.
But when he raised his eyes to look at Lindra they softened reassuringly. Some of the unease she felt since her father left melted away.
¡°At ease Corporal Whild. Lindra, good to see you. Convenient the two of you happened to come here together. Starting today, Whild will be in charge of your training, assign your duties, and keep you in line. She¡¯s one of our most versatile fighters with a keen mind for strategy. Whild, you are to focus her on self-defense, escape, and introduce a wild variety of tactics. Our little crossbow inventor needs inspiration.¡±
Fiona gasped. ¡°That was you? Jill would¡¯ve died during last patrol without her crossbow,¡± she smiled down at Lindra before looking back at Verdint. ¡°I¡¯ll teach her all I know Sir.¡±
Warmth bloomed in Lindra¡¯s chest, knowing that her invention saved someone. ¡°Thank you Fiona, thank you Verd- I mean Sir. I will do my best.¡±
¡°Ugh,¡± Lindra groaned as she stood back up. After finishing their talk with Verdint, she and Fiona headed to the small arena they passed by earlier. To her relief, two healers waited nearby and quickly took care of her bruises. It was the first time she saw healing magic. Although visually nothing happened, no healing glow or magical aura. But internally she felt warm bliss spread through her tender flesh. Leaving unmarred skin behind.
The whole rest of the rotation she practiced basic footwork and three parries.
Today, she discovered why healers were stationed at a military training center.
Using her wooden sword as a cane, she leaned against it and waved a healer over again. He shook his head as he reached her, ¡°Fiona shouldn¡¯t be roughing you up like this, it¡¯s your second rotation.¡±
¡°Actually, I asked her to do whatever would teach me the most. Yesterday she told me I saved one of her friends. If pushing myself means one less person dies, how could I not? I realized how much I can make a difference.¡±
The healer sighed. ¡°I understand. At least my healing magic is getting plenty of practice. Alright, you¡¯re good to get beat up again.¡±
With a laugh, she went to do just that. Fiona drilled Lindra¡¯s muscle memory and mind. She would perform one of three blocks. Then, based on what errors she made, Fiona would make another attack. This way, not only was Lindra learning how to block, she learned what kind of opportunities she gave for different types of mistakes and therefore what attack Fiona might make next.
Blocking with too much force left her guard out of position. A wrong angle left her unable to recover in time for the next attack. Blocking too fast caused Fiona to strike elsewhere. After every blow, they would pause to discuss improvements. Healing served as breaks.
¡°Ready?¡± her teacher asked.
¡°Ready.¡±
Fiona lunged forward in a simple thrust. Lindra caught the tip of the woman¡¯s wooden sword with her guard and pushed it away from her torso. As she did, she realized the tip of her own sword was too high. Fiona noticed too and circled her blade out of the parry. Quickly bringing her tip down, Lindra tried to block in the other direction. She partially succeeded, the wooden tip jabbed into her thigh instead of her gut. Lindra flinched but grit her teeth.
The older woman back off. ¡°Good, you saw the flaw in your parry and almost recovered. Eventually, your errors will be smaller and less punishing. Make sure to move back to create distance and give yourself more time to react.¡±
¡°Got it. I¡¯m ready to go again.¡±
Chapter 16: End of Arc 1
Riva woke up without a second to process her vision of Lindra. She needed to get back, to see what happened to everyone, to whatever remained of Eva. Immediately she flew out of her core room, still just a tiny underground hole. Not bothering to use the tunnel, she rushed directly up through the soil, along the bark of Eva¡¯s tree, past a single blooming blossom.
High up in the sky, Riva orientated herself before resuming her mad dash. Faster than ever before, she continued towards the battlefield. At full speed, her consciousness crashed into the boundary of her domain. While this did not harm her, it stunned her for a moment. Then realization dawned. Flack, I can¡¯t leave without inhabiting a monster¡¯s body, but they¡¯re all out fighting! Guess I will have to do this the difficult way.
Gathering her energy, she desperately began to grow her domain. Expansion was much easier and more efficient when expanded in all directions simultaneously. But she had no choice. So despite the effort, Riva pushed on. Every click that brought her closer also brought more strain. Eventually, the discomfort turned to pain. She felt like her muscles were being torn.
Just ahead, she could see the boundary to the enemy dungeon. She was so close, but each second was agony. Three clicks away. Two. One.
With a final surge, she crossed the boundary to where the enemy dungeon¡¯s domain began. Like a bubble being popped, a deluge rushed into her. One second she was fighting through agony to expand further, the next overwhelming bliss permeated every speck of her being.
Back when she inhabited Eva¡¯s body, Riva heard the crack that killed the enemy dungeon. What she didn¡¯t realize at the time that with its death, all of its energy infused into the area. This gave Riva more than all of her previously accumulated energy combined. With the strength it gave her, she continued.
Through a battle-torn swamp, over the beaver¡¯s barricades, through rejoicing Pixies. She finally reached the corpse of the final alliconda. The sun reflected off its scales, it lay next to a few wildflowers.
Eva¡¯s murder looks too peaceful in death.
Just as she was about to savage the corpse with earth spikes, Akeldama came into sight. He held his webbed claws cupped in front of his chest.
¡°I-is that Eva¡¯s body?¡±
Riva felt absolutely still in the last moments before seeing her friends corpse.
¡°No.¡± He opened his claws to show a Queen Ubee.
"Hello,¡± Eva calmly said.
¡°Eva!¡±
Riva rushed to her side. Without realizing it, she instinctively made an upper torso out of wind, scooped the ubee up into her arms, and cradled her.
"How are you alive?¡±
¡°Right after the alliconda struck out one last time the pixies managed to break the dungeon core. I passed out for a second, breaking our connection. Then the dungeon''s death released a wave of power that washed over everything. My wounds partially healed and I felt stronger.¡±
Akeldama¡¯s guttural voice broke the two out of their own little world. ¡°All the monsters experienced some evolution. My magic is more powerful than before. The pixies agree.¡±
¡°Where are the pixies by the way?¡± Riva asked.
Eva appeared almost embarrassed, ¡°They tend to get a little feisty after a battle. How have you not noticed? There¡¯s a reason pixies multiply so fast¡¡±
¡°Are there no more enemy creatures to fight?¡±
¡°Akeldama and I already spoke to Finn and Jarh. Apparently, every creature was a construct and disappeared like glowing smoke as soon as the dungeon core perished. The only monster was this alliconda.¡± Eva flew over to land on the corpse.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
¡°Speaking of the alliconda, that was extremely reckless! Do you know what losing you would have done to me?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I got caught up in the battle. Looking back on it, I should¡¯ve done something else.¡±
Riva paused as the strength behind her tirade was sapped.
¡°Well...let¡¯s be more careful in the future. Deal?¡±
¡°Deal.¡±
¡°Are you still hurt at all? I see your horn is chipped at the tip, let me heal it.¡±
¡°I would prefer you didn¡¯t, I want a reminder of this rotation. Plenty died earlier, almost including myself.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go find Finn and Jarh to find out the death toll.¡±
The three traveled in silence. Occasionally they heard the sounds of pixies celebrating life. Mourning would come soon, but for now, the oppressive menace that threatened them for rotations was finally dead.
They found Jarh resting against a tree branch. For a moment Riva worried, but he jumped up as they approached. ¡°Ah, Riva, we felt your domain expand to cover the area. We did it! We will be safe for a while now.¡±
¡°Who knows how long that will last? How many died, what are our current forces?¡±
His face turned more grave. ¡°We lost thirty-five pixies, thirty-two colrumns, including Eikooc, and I am not sure of the ubees.¡±
¡°One-hundred fifty of the two-hundred ubees and my three Queen¡¯s Guard are dead,¡± Eva supplied.
¡°We lost most of our people, then.¡±
¡°There were many factors against us, next time we can do better,¡± Jarh vowed.
"Next time we will do better. Never again will I let us be unprepared.¡±
Recovery over the next few rotations was slow. The pixies held their traditional mourning service and crowned Finn¡¯s eldest brother Zequar, who had recovered from his injuries. He and Riva renewed their vows of allyship before the pixie kingdom and her creatures.
Currently, the pixies are throwing a wake, drunk on ubee honey, to celebrate the lives of the dead. The more Riva familiarized herself with the pixies in a time of peace, the more they shocked her. While they called themselves a pixie kingdom, and try to shroud their customs with finery, at heart they were a primal society. Riva saw the first hint of this from homes made of skulls, the second hint their bloodlust, and finally, the current bawdy wake in honor of the fallen. They drunkenly twirled in the air to lively music, sometimes in dance, occasionally in a different tangle of limbs, other times brawling. She did not mind though, she knew fancy words or manners did not make good companions. The spirits of the pixies shone brightly in their smiles.
Zequar drunkenly stood up. ¡°Shut your pie holes, I declare a toast to Riva. The most intelligent and kind dungeon in the whole continent, nay, all of Vequetar! Without her, everyone here would be dead, our kingdom destroyed, there is no doubt in my mind. Her efforts and sacrifices are the reason we celebrate today. To Riva!¡±
¡°To Riva!¡± a chorus of shouts echoed.
Perhaps because she lacked an intoxicating drink or perhaps due to her nature, Riva could not shake off the melancholy in the aftermath of death. The toast was appreciated, but the victory remained bitter. She needed to do something proactive.
Instead of joining the celebrations, Riva retreated back to her core. The last few rotations, she pondered what sort of defenses she could build. Most dungeons tended to make underground floors as death traps to protect their core. While she planned to make caverns eventually, they don¡¯t suit her current creatures nor the pixies.
Riva began growing the trees. While the underbrush was already dense, she would make the forest into a maze. Massive trunks formed the walls, interwoven in places, and fused together in others. Branches arched overhead, close-knit enough to create a roof and strong enough to hold the next floor up. The dense foliage left her forest floor dark and foreboding, the darkness promising danger to any invader foolish enough to enter.
The layer of branches started the next level. Rather than a maze, she decided to create interconnected groves through tunnels. These large open spaces let the sunlight trickle down and would give her larger creatures room to fight. She connected the first and second levels in a handful of places, but not all second-floor areas connected to each other. To reach certain groves, adventures would need to travel back down to the ground and look for another entrance up. By the time she finished, even the pixies may get lost for a while until they adjust. The system spanned her entire domain.
Given more energy, she would form additional tiers in the trees. For now, she saved it for the major project. Riva was moving into Eva¡¯s tree.
Carefully, Eva picked up Riva¡¯s core and placed it in a hollow. Moving her core felt extremely uncomfortable, but she managed. Afterward, she began to swell Eva¡¯s tree to massive proportions. It shot towards the sky and thickened until the top brushed her domain hundreds of clicks up and the trunk took up twenty clicks. Finally, midway up the tree, she transformed her hollow into a small cavern. Perfect for a ubee hive to hide and protect her. Just like she protected them.
Update
I am sorry to say that I have fallen out of love with the Dungeon core genre. There are several reasons for this, primarily that I want to write for a humanoid main character. This is the first serious story I¡¯ve written and I learned a lot from it. Writing the Lindra chapters was always so much easier, interesting, and fun for me. Whereas trying to describe a dungeon, take actions without a physical body, and manage a large number of monsters quickly became frustrating.
One day I may come back to finish Riva¡¯s story, but not for a while. I apologize.
What¡¯s next?
I started writing a new, LitRPG isekai/portal fantasy story. However, I want to write at least 20,000 words before I publish the first chapter, to make sure I want to stick with it. That will also let me post on a more regularly. The name is ¡°Staying Together¡± and I created a story page.
Here¡¯s the synopsis:
¡°Today Viren turned 30. As a Traveler, she is cursed to be teleported to a random new world every 15 years. Normally, Traveler families have no chance of staying together. Fortunately, the Arch-Mage of Earth cast a spell allowing her to bring her young son along with her.
Arriving on Yurph, she quickly learns survival depends on blue screens and levels. Perhaps this new system is the key to ending her curse before her son is taken on his 15th birthday. If they can survive.¡±
Prologue: Last Day On Earth
The tattoo needle bit into her skin, etching her work into flesh. By now Viren barely noticed the pain. Time dragged on and sped up simultaneously as she watched the clock. Six hours left at most. A few days ago she started to feel the tugging. Did she forget anything? The tattoo artist wipes the blood off her skin. He starts again. Wipe and buzzing pain. Wipe. Pain. Five hours now.
She should have studied harder. Trained more. Her research never amounted to anything concrete. There was never enough time, she needed more time! Who knows what the next world will hold? Another wipe, but this time pain did not follow.
¡°You know, I get plenty of odd requests. But I never thought I¡¯d do nearly a full body of formulas.¡± He turned to start putting his tools away. ¡°You know the aftercare instructions, Martha upfront can book your next appointment.¡±
Viren came back to herself, realizing he was done. ¡°This was the last one Steve. Thank you, it looks wonderful as always.¡±
¡°Heh, I doubt that. I¡¯ll see you again soon,¡± he chuckled, turning back to her.
¡°I¡¯m serious. Tonight I¡¯m leaving and I won¡¯t be back. Thanks for always being a friend.¡± As she hopped off the table she tossed an envelope on it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ll be okay.¡±
Hearing her solemn words and seeing her weary countenance, Steve was taken aback. Before he could recover, she slipped out the door and out of his life. Checking the envelope he swore when he saw the thirty grand tip she left him. By the time he ran out of the store, she was gone.
Viren, meanwhile, quickly jogged to her car parked down the road. Slamming the door shut, she revved the engine and put the pedal to the metal. She drove past her now-empty apartment. Past the familiar UCLA campus. Her eyes lingered on the park and swing set Aiden used to love. Was she making the right decision? She could very well be condemning him to death alongside her. No, she had to bring him. He wasn¡¯t strong like her, he was too young. Yet too old to be adopted, he would break in the foster care system. It nearly broke her and she lucked out. Others¡¯ stories told her how much worse it could have been.
Four hours. Bloody LA traffic, they barely had time for the ritual. Screeching into a driveway of a Beverly Hills mansion, she marched up the steps. Before she could reach for the door handle, it opened on its own to reveal. Alfred in his usual suit. Who would have guessed the Arch-Mage of Earth to be a Batman fan?
¡°You¡¯re late, ma''am. The Master and your son are downstairs in the lab.¡± He even spoke in the stereotypical butler accent.
¡°Right. Lead the way.¡±
She followed past ultra-modern furniture, all black and white, down stairs of marble. The railing likely cost more than her whole studio apartment. Reaching the bottom, a vault door stood ajar. Voices grew louder as she entered.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
¡°These words are so cool! Like swirling pictures, what do they say?¡± Viren recognized Aiden¡¯s voice. She turned the corner and saw him. He and Ryan stood crouched over some inscription on the floor. The entire space was cleared out to leave an empty room. But thousands of runic letters covered the floors, walls, and even the ceiling. Only a circle in the middle remained blank.
¡°Master, she has arrived,¡± The Alfred wannabe interjected.
Ryan and her son looked up. ¡°Mommy!¡± He crashed into her and she scooped him up. Erasing her worry lines, she plastered a beaming smile on her face. ¡°Ooph, you¡¯re getting so big. I won¡¯t be able to pick you up soon.¡± That earned her a giggle.
She really would have to set him down soon, but for now, she shifted his weight to her hip in the classic mom move and looked towards the Arch Mage. ¡°Is the ritual ready?¡±
He stood there with a weary but self-confident smirk. ¡°Only task left is the hair samples, those need to be fresh.¡±
Alfred brought scissors and started trimming my and Aiden¡¯s hair. They tied locks together and lay them about the room. By the end, her once long hair barely reached her shoulders and Aiden¡¯s looked like an uneven buzz cut.
Two hours.
They ate upstairs, Ryan¡¯s cook made divine steak and mashed potatoes. Aiden¡¯s favorite. It felt like a last meal to Viren.
One hour.
Aiden sat in her lap, her arms wrapped around him. Perfectly in the center of the circle. The tugging came more frequently now, the sensation heart-wrenching. Sitting there she couldn¡¯t help but reminisce. Arriving on Earth at fifteen, she was hopelessly lost in modern society. Her birth world¡¯s technology resembled the Dark Ages of Earth. Fortunately, her Traveler father gave her a modern education that he received on his previous planet. Otherwise, she likely would have been sent to a mental asylum within days. ¡°Adapt to survive,¡± she whispered his favorite saying.
Adien spoke up. ¡°Mom, what¡¯s the new world going to like? Will there be arts and crafts?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, I hope so.¡±
They sat in silence for a bit.
¡°Adien, sweetie. The new world could be anything. There could be a massive desert or an icy tundra. People could live like cavemen, fly in advanced starships, or live the exact same as here on Earth.¡± She paused. ¡°The important thing is you need to do exactly what I say okay? This isn¡¯t like when I tell you to do the dishes five times before you wash them. There will likely be danger, especially at first. Do you understand?¡±
¡°Yup, I got it.¡±
She turned him around, tilted his chin up and looked him in the eyes. ¡°Look at me. Tell me you understand. I might die. You might die. Do you understand?¡± By the end, she was nearly shouting and shaking him a little.
His eyes grew watery but he held her gaze. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you, Mommy.¡±
She crushed him back into a hug. ¡°Shhh, I¡¯m going to protect us. Don¡¯t worry. Just do what I tell you.¡± Scaring him hurt, but she could not risk him not listening to her. There were too many unknowns.
A sharp tug on her heart.
Zero hours.
They vanished.
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