Once upon a time, when Mazre was still young, and the Epoch of Myth was still unwinding its tendrils into history, the Firstborn Evirynn committed a terrible crime. She left her perch in the mountains of Stonewreath, she left her clutch and her husband. Taking upon herself the heart of the land, she conceived and bore from the egg a manlike creature, whose ears grew sharp and whose eyes glimmered with the gift of Life. The child went on his way, and was named Terr.
Then Evirynn flew to the sun, and after the night fell, conceived a child, and bore the egg, and came from it a similar creature, but he burned brighter than his brother, and he lighted the dark. The child went on his way and was named Aelius.
Evirynn returned to her perch for a fortnight, and lived with her husband and her wyrm, but she grew tired, and flew to the moons, and conceived twins of different fathers, and they reflected the Light, and they saw through the shadows. The children went on their way they were named Selene and Janus.
Evirynn then flew farther than she had ever before, and she met with the stars, and when she returned to her perch, she clutched three eggs, and her husband was filled with doubt. Then the eggs bore three creatures much like the others, but they glowed palely, and they shined with many colors. The children were named Astri, Zoriana and the youngest was named Mailon. The husband of Evirynn, who was named Zeus, in his fury called upon Arulan, who speaks for the ((SYSTEM)).
Arulan came and Zeus told him of Evirynn¡¯s crime, and the ((SYSTEM)) was enraged, for she had committed the first adultery on Mazre. And was believed to be of the Light. She was punished and sent to the land of death and left to rot with those who bring it. Let all Memento Mori, for even the Firstborn may be exiled. Arulan named the children Elf, taking the name from the stories of the Many. As years passed, and the celestial children grew to adulthood, feeling a call to a certain place, they met in a grove near Stonewreath, and they spoke, for they had never seen others so like unto themselves.
Those bore of sin and evil have hearts that are already weak to its temptations, and so it came to pass that brother fell in love with sister, and Terr married Zoriana, and bore two sons and a daughter, and Aelius married Selene, and bore five sons and no daughters and Janus married Astri, and bore seven daughters and no sons.
Mailon was disgusted, but his siblings swore him to secrecy of their accursed unions. He honored his word and distanced himself from them.
One day, the daughters of Janus and Astri wished to go for a picnic, and in searching for a proper place, they came across a glade of trees that they had never seen before. The glade was wholesome and near a pond, so they set down to eat. They laughed noisily and splashed the water and drew out of the glade an old woman, whose kind they had never seen before.
¡°What manner of being art thou?¡± Asked the eldest daughter, Aurora
The woman replied, ¡°I woudst ask the same thing of you, as you are unlike any being I have yet drawn to this yew.¡±
Aurora, young and unversed in the manner of the fae, said ¡°I am Aurora, daughter of Janus, and I am Luna Elf.¡±
The woman laughed, ¡°And how is this be? Only Elf who live are bound by kith and kin.¡±
Aurora realized her mistake, and she stood to flee, when the trees bound her and her sisters in their roots. The Fae called for Arulan, who appeared from one of the trees.
The daughters wept, and Arulan called for The Fae to free them, and he told them to return to their parents, but since they ran, they would share in their guilt. The next night, the elves where once again called to the grove in Stonewreath, and they were met they¡¯re by Arulan.
He asked ¡°Which among you hast child?¡±
And they lied and scoffed, and blamed the other.
Arulan asked again, ¡°Which among you hast child?¡±
Again, they lied, but this time Mailon spoke and said, ¡°All but I, Speaker.¡±
¡°Why did you not speak sooner?¡± Arulan asked,
¡°I did not wish to break my word.¡± Mailon
¡°Very well, of this crime you are pure, for your heart shows no malice.¡± This was not Arulan, that spoke, but the ((SYSTEM)) ¡°For those who the crime does fall upon, your sentence is less than your mother¡¯s and more. Your crime will be the bane of your race, and yet twill define it, Astri and her daughters will bear no more daughters, and those of Selene no sons, Zoriana¡¯s children will have no more than three chances during their life to bring forth a living child, for one thousand generations, on the one thousand and first cycle of birth, the punishment shall be stayed, but not unto the next, until another thousand have passed.¡±
Arulan began to leave, but Mailon entreated him to stay for a moment,
¡°Sir, I beg that I be taken from this place, any all places that the spawn of my kin may inhabit, for I feel naught but disgust for those whose blood is shared too freely among too few veins, I wish that I may be taken to my mother, so that I may live my days not in exile, but in hiding of the grotesque welps that will spring from the overripe hearts of my siblings. That I may fly from the lands of plague, and famine, and war, and leave to the land of death, I beg this of you, and I swear upon my stellar father that I will seek for my kind no trouble and evil, and I will do all that I can to mitigate this sin that has tainted my blood and those who share it, and these things I cannot promise if I stay in a place where they will meet me, and my disgust may grow into revulsion and hate.¡±
Arulan and the ((SYSTEM)) consulted and then spoke to Mailon, ¡°You will go to Mori then, but be warned, one day, the place of exile will become reconciled with Mazre, and then, if you still live, none will stop them.¡±
¡°Very well, then I will train my blood to be cooled against them, and my heart to be guarded in the innocence that birth hath given them.¡± Mailon said,
Arulan nodded, and a great beast with wings came and took Mailon across many seas, and the wind blew favorably, and the sun beat softly upon his brow, until the beast took him to the place where his mother was exiled.
Evirynn welcomed her son warmly, her heart becoming chastised with her exile, and for many suns they lived secluded in the deepest [1]mori, however, as time waned, Evirynn said to Mailon.
¡°Go out, and find yourself a wife among the peoples of this land.¡±
And Mailon did. He married a Morian by the name of Martha, and they had seven children, Bruce, Kalel, Bartholmew, Hal, Diane, Aruthur, and John, but the blood of Mori is thicker than the blood of stars, and the children were very little elf. The people of Mori are short lived, and before twenty years had passed, and Mailon arranged their own marriages. Then, forty more, and Martha withered. Filled with grief, Mailon returned to his mother, but after twenty suns she said again.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
¡°Go out, and find yourself a wife among the peoples of this land.¡±
And Mailon did. He married a widow by the name of Suzane, but they had no children, and she withered.
And many times, this repeated, until the blood of elves was mingled with the blood of the exiled, and they became something that was unlike themselves, and they lived longer, and magic came more readily to the hands it once avoided. And the blood of Elf and Fae over many generations mixed with the blood of the Morians who were once Many. These are the names of the Morian wives of Mailon.
October, Ursala, Layla, Ruth, Barbra, Violet, Marigold, Ethel, Atalanta, Ester, Veria, Faith, Marie, Scarlet, Bri, Ivy, Hope, Lorelei, Mei, Angel, Donna, Gemma, Philomena, Cora, Gin, Tilly, Cassiopeia, Madelyn, Amy, Mira, and Roxy.
After Roxy withered, and his children where grown, Mailon tired of his beloved dying, and retired from the world of mortals. For a hundred years, no whisper was heard of the elf on Mori. It was then that Evirynn grew old, for her soul was of the Many, and still held the curse of death, and Evirynn did not wither, but instead was placed in a deep sleep, and she became buried under stone, and now a mountain lays over her and a city atop it, named Marcsworth. Mailon, wrapt in grief, left the mori[2] glade and took to wander.
For three years he wandered, then on the night of the fourth year, he stepped into a Fey Wild. Inside lived the Faery Talia, who met with Mailon and they broke bread. Mailon stayed in the Fey Wild for many days, and soon Talia and Mailon wed. The fae are long lived and their blood is strong, but Talia wished to give Mailon an elven child, so that he may have more of his kind. So, she carved a log into the shape of a child, and set upon it a glimmer so that it would appear alive. They named the child Justine, and Mailon did not wonder that his daughter stayed an infant, for that is the way of the Fey Wilds, and time seemed to stay frozen, for if the Fae lack one thing, it is time.
But so many years passed that the magic drained Talia¡¯s soul, and she withered, and the glimmer faded, and Mailon was left with a corpse and a log. He cried over his wife who lied, and his daughter who never lived, and tears fell upon the log. The next morn, when Mailon awoke he found that a tree had sprouted, and laughter flitted through its leaves, and a child played at its roots, at first Mailon cried out for his daughter, but as he grew closer, he realized that the child was not Justine, but she had her eyes, and her voice, though she did not have the skin or ears of an elf, Mailon reached out to the child, but as if she was a ghost, she didn¡¯t notice as his hand fell through her shoulder.
The child was not Justine, but Mailon named her Rose and stayed near her. The child was alone, and Mailon knew this loneliness, as though he had siblings, he was the only child of his father. And none of his children or lovers where elves, and none understood the loss of the elves. So, in the moonless night, Mailon found his father in the sky and called to him, and his father answered saying.
¡°Why do you call to me? You have not thought of me since you swore on my name.¡±
And Mailon said, ¡°I wish to ask how I might spare another of the loss.¡±
And his father said. ¡°I will show you. Reach out your hand.¡±
Mailon did so, and starlight twisted around his fingertips, ¡°Weave the light into a form, and life will be born.¡±
So, Mailon weaved the light into a tree. And in the morn, a woman was sitting beside Rose, and she gave her another name, and they did not see Mailon, and thus was born the Dryads. And Mailon wandered many years, and he was known across all of Mori, and the Ents came across the sea to Mori and they settled in a plain that became a forest, but they where old and weak, and fire charred their trunks, so the companions of Arulan slept and the Dryads from this forest very wholesome, and since then the Ents and the Dryads have never been separated.
Mailon wandered and he settled in a cave near his mother¡¯s mountain. His father watched his heir, and the other stars where envious, so the stars that made up the Gemini conversed, and they came up with a plot. The north star heard of these whispers, and told them to the triplets of the summer triangle, and they told others and the rumors traveled far, until stars that did not look down upon Mazre heard of them, and they wondered of this place where stars had children.
One of these stars, who had no name, for the Many had never given her one, heard these whispers, for stars only whisper, and she sent a message on a beam of starlight toward Mazre, and a star known to Ridoum as Ghith caught the light and sent it to Mailon¡¯s father. Mailon¡¯s father sent a message to the nameless star and they agreed that a marriage would be arranged between his own child and one that she would create.
The nameless star called upon the Sun, (there is quite a difference between stars and suns, despite what the Many seem to think) and the Sun called upon Kwim the sea dragon, who would pull the cradle of Leona, and Kwim promised the Sun to make a daughter for the nameless Star. Kwim, not knowing how this could be done, came to the shore of Ladora, to the city of Volom, before it was raised into the sky by the Harpy King, and he called upon the goblin smith Edurn, who was a legend even in the earliest days.
Edurn promised to teach Kwim the art of smithing if he would light his forge, and Kwim agreed. Now, as the Harpies and Dwarves who lived in Volom feared Kwim, Edurn took him to a beach, and he used his magic to build up a great forge, and he taught Kwim to build all manner of things, and how to use dragon fire to breathe life into golems, but the metals where far too coarse to become the daughter of the star, and wood could not be forged by a dragon.
In his frustration, Kwim flew high and scorched the beach until the sand glowed red, but when he returned, he found that the melted sand and created a new substance, and when it was flung into the water, became clear and hard, but still fragile. Kwim showed Edurn the material and they together named it ¡®glass¡¯, and Edurn dismissed it as too frail to be forged, but Kwim worked many hours and days, blowing fire onto the sand, and twisting it with his claws. After three weeks, he had built a statue of a beautiful woman with the shape of an elf and skin of glass. He set one of his scales as her heart and clothed her in a gown sewn from rubies. And then the nameless star wove her light into the sculpture, and her color became the green of her mother, but it flashed blue, and sometimes red, like the scale she held as her heart. The glass became mailable like flesh, but she was always transparent, like a stained window in the chapels of the knights.
The star¡¯s daughter was given the name Adelaide. And Kwim, though he was not her father, taught her to speak the language of dragons, and of elves, and of mori, (For he had been there to meet the FirstDragon), and he gave her a large sum of gold from his own horde, and many gowns and seeds that would grow trees made of silver. Then Kwim took her to Mori on his back.
Mailon, at this time, had lived in the cave for a period of 150 years, and he had built himself a large house outside of it. And Kwim came with Adelaide and he left her and her gifts, and after bowing to Evirynn¡¯s mound, he flew away.
And Mailon inquired to Adelaide who she was, and she said that she was the daughter of a star, and that her mother and his father wished them to wed. Mailon, whose heart had grown many scars, said, despite his loneliness, that she was young, and he had lived for many years, and the Epoch of Myth was ending, and that he could not marry her, because she to him, was a child.
And Adelaide was quite troubled by this. For she had been created to be his bride, and she was not sure what she was to do, for she did not know anything of the world. Mailon saw that she was troubled and told her this:
¡°I will promise you this, if you follow me for two hundred years, and I show you every sight of Mori, I will teach you every secret of Mazre, every goodly place and every heart that beats upon its land, and if you still wish to marry me, then I shall marry you.¡±
And two hundred years passed, and they traveled over every isle and forest of Mori, and they saw every sight and every secret was told, and when Adelaide was no longer a child, and she found that she loved Mailon because of his kindness, rather than of her birth, they married, and they had many children, and many stars called to Kwim to make them daughters and sons, and there was never too few veins in Mori, and they settled in the Ent-Forest and the Dryads made sure that no child was ever lost among the shifting trees. Mailon¡¯s father looked down at his son and he sent messages to Adelaide¡¯s mother, and they where happy in the knowledge that their arrangements had been successful.
[1] Mori here refers to forest, not the land of exile, this was common in texts from the epoch of myth.
[2] forest
The Doctor/Infantile thoughts
It took Empress two cycles of 300 to figure out what Saferoom was trying to tell her.
¡°¡She wants to know what is wrong with Saferoom¡¯s name?¡± Empress asked.
Saferoom clacked and let out a dramatic sigh of pheromones, reassurance, discontent.
¡°She didn¡¯t think it was because it was a bad name.¡± She huffed defensively.
Saferoom fidgeted and then followed with the pheromones for Stocker, Builder, Gatherer, Runner, and Gardener.
¡°What?¡± Empress said,
Gardener looked up from where she was¡ gardening¡
Saferoom shook her head and Gardener returned to her work.
¡°She couldn¡¯t exactly have called Saferoom, Saferoomer and Guard, Guarder.¡±
Saferoom blinked at Empress.
¡°¡She thinks maybe Guarder could¡¯ve worked, but Guard is still better.¡± Empress said,
The Nameless One Saferoom sprayed.
¡°She¡¯s working on it.¡± Empress promised.
Saferoom clacked again.
¡°Does Saferoom want her to call her Safer?¡± Empress asked.
The ant shook her head.
¡°Well, does Saferoom have any ideas?¡± Empress asked.
Level 2 Leader ant ¡°Saferoom¡± has requested her name to be changed to ¡°Doctor¡±
Empress blinked. ¡°That doesn¡¯t end in ¡®er¡¯ either she says.¡±
Saferoom sprayed a noncommittal pheromone.
¡°She thinks its fine. But Saferoom has to actually be Doctor.¡± Empress said,
The ant nodded vigorously.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Empress accepted the request. Doctor bowed and returned to the ((SAFE_ROOM))
Empress hummed slightly, she looked back at the moss surrounding her, then at Gardener.
¡°Does Gardener like her name?¡± She asked.
Gardener nodded.
¡°Hm.¡± Empress said.
-----
Alison Hope was currently five months old. That was ten, by the old. Calenders. She had never gotten used to time. Half an hour made all the difference. What once was three hundred sixty four days became five hundred forty six. She had never worked out leap days. Those all depended on where she was at a given moment, or who she was with. It was her habit to simply let her parents tell her what days where when, or what holiday was to be observed. There had been enough heartbreak when she learned Glaudag was no longer celebrated.
She wondered if Aren would celebrate Manuk and observe the Light¡¯s day. Certainly he would allow her the Eulogy. She had encountered a few elves, but had no guess as to their holidays. She knew that there was something to do with birthdays, but only for females. Orcs didn¡¯t celebrate birthdays, although there was something similar to be found in Namaedags.
She hadn¡¯t had a Namaedag in years. Perhaps the elf could be persuaded. Alice was struck by one of the sudden and painful hungers infancy. Fueled, she guessed, by the inability to eat proper food. Aren was holding her, he had scarcely put her down. Although, where was one to set a baby exactly? She tugged on his sleeve and looked up at him.
Elven style never seemed to change much, so she supposed that he was somewhat of a beatnik. His hair was platinum, and cut short. Close to the scalp at the edges and left slightly longer on the top. He had blue eyes, they were a dark blue, not quite the ocean and not quite the sky. Perhaps they were like a sapphire, except Alice had always found sapphires cold. Aren was anything but cold. Maybe it was his skin that framed his eyes strangely. Luna elves had skin that ranged in different tones of soft silver to tints of blue. Alice had even met one that had been tinged purple, he had been somewhat of an outcast, much like Aren. Elves rarely ventured to her side of the Inth.
Aren¡¯s skin had been a pure silver, but had since gained a slight ruddiness to it. He wasn¡¯t nearly as shiny as he had been when he first arrived, and there was a hint of peach spreading throughout his features. He had a kind face, a small scar on his lip that broke the blueish skin with a thin black line, and eyebrows that were startlingly dark compared to the rest of his hair, they could perhaps be called grey.
He was tall, then again, all adults were tall, but he was thin too. Ogres were naturally stockier than Orcs. (Alice herself tended toward the slender body type of her true mother.) Goblins were basically incapable of creating fat, and it gave all but the most muscular of them a rather knobby look. Trolls were different, she had never bothered plucking the feathers off one to check what it looked like underneath, but behind the neon fluff they always seemed to fit into places that they shouldn¡¯t be able to. Elves¡ were in a league of their own.
It would¡¯ve been impossible to call Aren ugly. A trait of his genealogy more than anything. Why would the moons give any possibility of imperfection to their young? Not everyone thought that Elves were attractive, Alice certainly didn¡¯t, but they were objectively beautiful creatures. In the way that a sunset was beautiful, rather than a person. They looked like a sculpture of a person. (she had less flattering ones done of herself)
You never saw an Elf with true blemishes, or mutilation, lost limbs were replaced with golden approximations. Scars became like jewels to them, defects were nothing but jewelry that set them apart from their thousands of near identical siblings. It was sad almost. To praise destruction of one¡¯s body for the sake of uniqueness. It would¡¯ve been more sad if Alice could¡¯ve faulted them for it. But Elves scarred, as everything else that had to do with their appearances, wonderfully.
Aren had found the milk bottle and had pressed it to her lips. It wasn¡¯t a very good bottle. The bottle was glass, with a thin mesh over a small hole in the glass nub that she was meant to suck through. When had Bipedal races forgotten about rubber? It was of decent size, and better than being fed with a cloth and a bowl. (and even that was better than the embarrassment of being nursed, even with its health benefits.)
She drank, it was slightly cold, and there was less cream than normal. It was fine for dragoat¡¯s milk. The best milk she had tried by far was camel, but there hadn¡¯t been any camel in Litone for four hundred years, and there wouldn¡¯t be any before her infancy was over. Perhaps she would try and get some imported from Ridoum before this life was over. If everything went according to plan, it might never be over. Then again, when did things ever go according to plan?
Spontaneous musical numbers are not good for your health.
Erak hated the rain. It wasn¡¯t currently raining, and of course, he had expected rain. It always rained during the fourteenth. Angie had always called rains in Reptilawn tears of the ((SYSTEM)). He rubbed his ring finger absentmindedly as he slogged through the mud leftover from the monsoon. Elves didn¡¯t name the months. Giants did. Each month represented a type of animal. Each day a different animal in that criterion. What day you were born on would dictate your name, and, superstitiously, your magical inclinations.
He looked around at the mountains surrounding him. Their peaks were topped with snow as they reached up toward the sky. The Inth was full of valleys, most of which were currently flooded, but he could see the tops of green trees sticking out of the shallowest ones.
His leg sank a foot deep into the mud. He hissed and tried to pull it out of the hidden pothole. The trail, when there had been a trail, was not maintained whatsoever. It was practically a game trail, but it was also the only semi-trodden way through the Inth. The RNL and the Council didn¡¯t want the other an easy way through the Inth, so the path stayed overgrown. Supposedly it was a remnant of the infrastructure of Eli¡¯in. Occasionally, very occasionally, Erak would spot a flat rock that might¡¯ve been a cobblestone at some point or would see unnatural-looking ditches that the rainwater seemed to flow out onto instead of the road, but there was nothing concrete.
He tugged on his ((MANA POOL)) and prepared his signature spell without thought. ((LIAR¡¯S FIRE)). It was like fire but wasn¡¯t affected by water, thankfully. He cast the spell, blue fire licked the mud around him until it dried out enough that he was able to jam his walking stick into the soft claylike dirt and pull his leg free, but not enough that it turned into unmovable earth. Erak kept walking.
Perhaps this was the road to Eli¡¯in. Perhaps he would walk through the Inth until he died, or found himself in the territory of the Council. No matter, Erak thought, any option would certainly be better than facing his brother¡¯s judgment. A small voice in his heart called him a coward and told him to return and die with some semblance of honor. To drown it out he began to hum. He had been born, according to the ice giant calendars at least, on the last day of the month Insectae. The day of the Ant. He had never had any inclination toward Entopathic magic. Another reason why the calendar was half-waned. Erran¡¯d had been born several hours after him. A half-hour past midnight, to be exact. His birthday had passed into Dracone and he was born on the day of the Wyrmling.
This was never any consequence to the elves. Twins always celebrated two days anyway. Angie had always found it to be a sign of some kind. Erann¡¯d had lorded it over him whenever the name days came up. He smiled sadly. Vali and Nafri had been born in separate months as well. Perhaps it was genetic. Serpentis and Caninae. Viper and Coyote. Erak stopped walking. He had been humming the snippet of the dwarfish ballad Arulan had sung.
He hadn¡¯t even realized. The tune had been playing in the back of his mind for hours.
¡°In Inth¡¯s loudest valley, ¡®neath ashes that tally lay caverns of light¡¡± Erak sang aloud musingly.
He had heard that song before. He was sure of it. He shook his head and kept walking. Perhaps a traveling dwarven jongleur? That was probably it. He had visited may towns during his ((READER)) apprenticeship, he must¡¯ve heard it somewhere. His ears twitched with the damp breeze, and suddenly the memory clicked into place.
It was at the last isle, checking out that new flesh dungeon with Allucio when he had just started working for the guild. Allucio had gone to bed, but Erak had still been adjusting to being awake in the suntide and sleeping during moontide. The barkeep, what had his name been- Beren? Beaker? No. Berkley. That was it. Had been trying to drunkenly impress one of the waitresses, a water nymph whose name Erak didn¡¯t remember. They had both seemed to old for that behavior, at least by their standards. That wasn¡¯t important, what was important was that Berkley had tried to sing. Not well, he was rather drunk.
But it was that song.
And Erak had always been good at remembering songs. Father had thought he¡¯d become a musician when he was younger. Dungeons liked music, it wasn¡¯t something they were often exposed to, his master had cultivated that skill.
After furrowing his brow for a moment, Erak began to sing, slowly at first as his tongue stumbled over the words, but the longer he went on, the clearer his voice became. The wet conditions didn¡¯t seem quite so miserable anymore.
¡°In years that passed in yonder days.
In foreign lands of yester maids,
There was in Inth¡¯s golden crown, a city-
Eli¡¯in.
Jewel of the mountains. Flower of stone.
Dream of every little child and hope of all Litone.
Built up from ash trees and burned in their stead.
Dream only Eli¡¯in for Eli¡¯in is dead.
Orcish prince and Orcish queen.
A castle built on Hope and leaves
Marble red and stained with eves
That passed in Eli¡¯in.
The Eulogy has yet begun
The mountains burn yet no one won
Ogre breath and Orcish blood.
Split in Eli¡¯in.
Jewel of the mountains. Flower of stone.
Dream of every little child and hope of all Litone. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Built up from ash trees and burned in their stead.
Dream only Eli¡¯in for Eli¡¯in is dead.
They say that Hope did die that day
Yet left behind her heirs
To rekindle our Eli¡¯in and
Peace for us to bear.
Eli¡¯veri and Eli¡¯ve will grow to ver and veria
The prince and queen will never meet.
And Death to death she¡¯ll a bride.
And Eli¡¯in forever ruled by the one called
Eli¡¯vera.
Jewel of the mountains. Flower of stone.
Dream of every little child and hope of all Litone.
Built up from ash trees and burned in their stead.
Dream only Eli¡¯in for Eli¡¯in is dead.
In Inth¡¯s loudest valley
beneath ashes that tally,
lay caverns of light
Where Eli¡¯in lays ever night.
Ento into the dark if that is what you dare.
If not her ire you invoke, you will find her fair.
Listen dear future, I sing from the past.
You may call me Eli¡¯veri and I shall be the last.
Jewel of the mountains. Flower of stone.
Dream of every little child and hope of all Litone.
Built up from ash trees and burned in their stead.
Dream only Eli¡¯in for Eli¡¯in is dead.
Look kindly on the wrath
Of the daughter of my kind
Or she will grind you under heel.
The Eli¡¯ve was never kind
Listen closely to the sounds
You shall go to loudest valley.
You shall seek Refuge there,
But she is no Sanctuary.
Jewel of the mountains. Flower of stone.
Dream of every little child and hope of all Litone.
Built up from ash trees and burned in their stead.
Dream only Eli¡¯in for Eli¡¯in is dead.
To the future from the past.
My songs are my virtue.
And if my sister asks your name,
The Eli¡¯veri sent you.¡±
Just as the last note faded from his throat, and Erak was just about to let a contented smile cross his face, he heard quiet possibly the most terrifying sound one could hear when they believe they are alone on a mountain and have just finished loudly proclaiming their existence to every beast around them.
Erak Eithidien froze and spun around because heard clapping. The heavy metallic sound of two gauntlets slamming together echoed through the mountains, chasing the last remnants of his voice that still hung in the air.
A woman clothed so extremely in armor that Erak couldn¡¯t tell what species she was clapped slowly as she approached. Erak had no idea how she had gotten there.
¡°Oh.¡± She said, her voice was gravelly. ¡°Don¡¯t let me stop you.¡±
¡°Hello,¡± Erak said, keeping his voice neutral. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I had an audience.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure half of the Inth heard you.¡± The woman said easily. ¡°I¡¯m just the one who got here first.¡±
¡°The acoustics are wonderful, aren¡¯t they?¡± Erak said, ignoring the threat in her words.
She laughed and kept walking toward him slowly. ¡°It''s strange to elves this close to the Council¡¯s land.¡±
¡°I¡¯m a ((READER)). There were reports of a dungeon nearby. I have no intention of going past the Inth,¡± Erak said, not sure if he was lying or not.
¡°Reports from who?¡± She replied,
Erak feigned an unconcerned shrug. ¡°I¡¯d be drunk on moonbeams if they¡¯d tell me.¡±
¡°Hm.¡± She said, ¡°Rather disappointing.¡±
¡°Pardon?¡± Erak asked, taking a step back.
¡°I thought you would¡¯ve realized by now.¡± She said, stopping her advancement.
There was a soft whoosh of air behind him, and before he could turn around he was pinned to the ground as sharp claws raked through his back. Erak screamed, trying to push the- the thing, whatever it was off him. The beast, more likely beastkin growled in Erak¡¯s ear and pressed more weight into his claws. Erak cried out, unwilling tears springing to his eyes.
¡°Silence Elf.¡± A man¡¯s voice said,
Erak bit his tongue. So it was a beastkin.
¡°Who are you? Why are you really here?¡± the man said,
Erak¡¯s face was pressed into the mud, he tried to lift his head but found himself unable, he turned to the side the best he could and tried to put together a coherent answer with the pain in his back.
¡°My name is Erak. I am a ((READER)).¡± He felt a spell wash over him.
¡°He isn¡¯t lying about having the class.¡± The woman said,
¡°I don¡¯t trust him, Milady Thea. Who would announce themselves so blatantly?¡± The man said,
The woman, presumably Thea, responded, ¡°An idiot or someone looking to be captured.¡±
¡°¡I suppose that must make me an idiot then,¡± Erak said,
The man flexed his claws and Erak had to stifle a cry. ¡°What do we do with him?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet. Does he look like Aren to you?¡± Thea said,
¡°I do not know. He and Aren are the only elves I¡¯ve ever seen, they do look¡ alike, but I am unable to tell if that is my personal bias.¡± The man said,
Erak bit his tongue again before speaking. ¡°Do you mean Erann¡¯d? Erann¡¯d Eithidien?¡±
The man snarled again but Thea must¡¯ve signaled him because he stepped off of Erak¡¯s back and slunk to her side.
¡°Perhaps.¡± Thea said, ¡°You are an Eithidien, then?¡±
¡°Aye,¡± Erak said, pushing himself upward. He glanced at the beastkin, he was a wolf of some sort, although Erak had never seen a wolf with wings. It took him a moment to realize that the wolf was halfborn, and mentally filed it away as a minor curiosity.
¡°Brothers don¡¯t mean much to Elves, so I¡¯ve heard,¡± Thea said,
¡°Not exactly. Elven generations are fifty or so years long, you are typically only close to those born near you.¡± Erak said,
¡°Hm.¡± Thea said, ¡°Is that so?¡±
¡°¡yes,¡± Erak responded.
¡°And I suppose you¡¯ll be telling me next that Aren and you are quite close, and afterward we will apologize and bring you to our campsite for tea?¡± Thea said smiling.
¡°We are¡ rather close in age, but I have no interest in associating with either of you or my brother if I can help it, as I said previously,¡± Erak said, standing up, ignoring the dulled stabbing in his back, he had lost most of his feeling there anyway. ¡°I am a ((READER)) and I am here to find a Dungeon.¡±
¡°Hm,¡± Thea said again. ¡°Very noble, but I am afraid that we can¡¯t risk the safety of the princess... Quillian?¡±
Light flashed in Erak¡¯s palm, he spun around and threw it at the wolf mid-pounce. Quilian yelped blinking furiously, Erak dipped out of the way of his attack and the wolf crashed into the mud. Erak didn¡¯t spare a glance toward Thea and began to run. Casting a large wall of blue fire behind him.
His heart beat in his mouth. He wasn¡¯t a warrior. He had fought in several wars, as most adult men in Litone had, and being an Elf, his military career was longer than most. But Erak was a spellcaster, whose best spells had been tweaked and fine-tuned to be specifically useful in his duties as a ((READER)). He had control, but not power. A halfborn beastkin, who had most likely been a soldier since birth, and a strange woman with some magic aptitude.
There was no point in learning magic that could fight against a dungeon. If a ((READER)) had to fight a dungeon, they had already lost. Erak heard a low buzz, faint in his ears. He pushed more power into his sprint, thinking a spell was being charged behind him.
He ran for several minutes before realizing the sound was coming from one of the nearby valleys. He almost stopped running when he realized that it looked completely dry. Erak¡¯s breath hitched in his throat. His quest pinged in the corner of his vision.
Main Quest Updated:
TRAVEL TO ELI¡¯IN:
- Ento into the loudest valley.
He didn¡¯t have time to be distracted by the apparent misspelling of ¡®enter¡¯. Erak heard a loud howl behind him and ran for the valley.
Crossed paths
Silence was the only thing keeping him alive. He had escaped into the valley hours ago and moonrise had came and went. The loud buzzing of the valley had saved him several times already. His pursuers missing him by only a few yards, when he was sure that the beastkin could¡¯ve heard his heartbeat. Sometimes he thought he heard the soft cries of an infant. Erak wondered if he was going insane. He kept walking.
Drooping eyelids and dragging feet were going to kill him, one wrong step, one wrong breath.. An owl flew about him, and it dove, catching some unfortunate rodent in its claws. Stars twinkled brightly, tantalizingly, laughing at him from their perch in the heavens. To keep his mind awake he tried to count the phases of the moons.
What was that- A howl? A snicker? The drawing of a bowstring? The cry of a child? A bat flew past his ears, he took a wild step back and his foot fell half an inch from a hole that would¡¯ve surely twisted his ankle and into a soft bed of moss. His silver skin shimmered in the moonlight like the spider webs, he was going to die. He felt cold. He gazed up at the sky, trying to find hope in the moons¡¯ cold faces, the twin fathers of his race stared at him with disappointment from the skies, did they regret their affair with the dragon mother now, seeing how far their spawn had fallen. Would he be safer in the day? Or at night? Even hunters had to sleep eventually. Even the hunted had to close their eyes.
Something moved, the forest sounds were loud in his ears, was it a deer? An enemy? A friend? It didn¡¯t matter, he turned away, drifting from the deep rut formed by the monsoon to the deep forest, the forest was beautiful at night- Was he alone? No, his enemies were near, he could hear them behind the buzzing.
He needed to sleep, to rest. How long had it been since the wolf attacked? He¡¯d lost too much blood. There was a soft rustling sound to his right, the forest grew silent, but the buzzing didn¡¯t stop. he shivered and crouched down, hoping he would be hidden by the uncertain light. ((MANA)) was thick in the air, he forced his heart to stop racing and relaxed. Fireflies danced in the trees.
WARNING! YOU ARE SEVERELY-
He swiped the box away without even reading it. There was another sound. he turned his head, and the world seemed like it was in slow motion. A cloaked figure pounced from the undergrowth. A flash of light danced in the attacker¡¯s hand, the defender sprang to his feet, but the attacker was faster, and wasn¡¯t injured. The attacker knocked the defender to the ground. Rolling with the attack, the defender kicked himself free and stood unsteadily on his feet, he turned to run.
The attacker tackled the defender into a tree. Pinning him against it with a knife to his neck.
There was a brief moment where the two stared at each other. Two bright blue eyes of the exact same shade were reflected in the other. The moonlight seemed to glow a little stronger, as if specifically to illuminate their shadowed faces. There was a brief moment before Aren dropped the knife, where the twins were surprised to find themselves staring at a stranger.
Aren moved to engulf Erak in a hug. Erak flinched and pressed himself further against the tree. Aren paused.
¡°I¡¯m surprised to see you this far out.¡± Aren said, clearing his throat and backing away.
¡°You would be, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Erak said, breathing heavily.
¡°¡What¡¯s that even supposed to mean?¡± Aren said, crossing his arms, ¡°How are you mad at me already? I haven¡¯t even seen you in over a year.¡±
¡°Would you like me to start with the most recent offense and work my way back from there?¡± Erak said, with a withering glare, ¡°We apparently have some catching up to do.¡±
Aren gave his brother a dazzling smile. ¡°That would do nicely, actually.¡±
Erak snarled at him. Aren looked at him, perplexed.
¡°Your friends tried to kill me.¡± Erak said,
¡°Oh.¡± Aren said, ¡°Fair point. I am sorry about that., Although, I would¡¯ve warned them if you sent me word of your approach.¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t leave me any way to contact you.¡± Erak said, rolling his eyes.
¡°I did commit treason; wouldn¡¯t have been the best look for you. Are we good now?¡± Aren asked, uncrossing his arms hopefully.
¡°Goodness eternal no. Why are you acting like this? How are you so nonchalant?¡± Erak said, frustration evident in his voice.
¡°Why are you acting like this? I have no idea what¡¯s wrong, just tell me what I did to make you mad at me and I¡¯ll do my best to fix it.¡± Aren said, taking another step away from Erak.
¡°Fix it? You can¡¯t fix this, You- You really have no idea don¡¯t you?¡± Erak said, he began to pace, even though his back stung with the half-forgotten wounds, and his legs burned.
¡°Erak you¡¯re bleeding. If you can¡¯t heal it, Thea knows some lesser healing and I¡¯m sure- ¡°
¡°Stop. Talking. Erann¡¯d.¡± Erak said, burying his face in his hands and standing still.
Aren stopped, he slowly walked toward his brother. He put a hand gently on his shoulder, careful to avoid any wounds. ¡°Tell me.¡±
Erak let out a shaky breath. ¡°You have led to the end of our line Erann. You have killed everyone that came before us, and are the reason that no more will come after the lastborn. You have killed me. You have killed our father. You have killed yourself. Eriath is no longer our mother, and Herel is no longer our kingdom. Our name has been wiped from history. Every sin that our family has committed has led up to yours, and we have been bred from a tragic seed. I am not your brother. I do not exist.¡±
Aren did not react other than remove his hand from Erak¡¯s shoulder. He was still for a long time, his eyes looking somewhere far away. He closed his eyes and looked toward the sky, then he turned back to Erak. ¡°Herel is a wicked place. Its why I chose to leave it.¡±
Erak laughed sharply. ¡°That¡¯s all you have to say? You sent our entire bloodline to its death and Herel is a wicked place?¡±
¡°There is nothing else I can say.¡± Aren sighed,
Erak sighed as well. ¡°I suppose not.¡±
¡°Lets go back to my camp, Thea can heal you, and we can sort out our familial issues later. We are a day¡¯s journey ahead of the army, and while I doubt that they would take kindly to your sudden appearance, they wouldn¡¯t take unkindly to it either.¡± Aren said,
¡°What are you talking about?¡± Erak asked,
¡°I know that they attacked you,¡± Aren said appeasingly, lifting a hand ¡°But they aren¡¯t bad people, and I recently was given a¡ promotion of sorts that would ensure protection from the Highmothers for both of us.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not just going to defect Erann! just because my country decided to kill me doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m against the entire RNL, nor does it mean that I¡¯m not the side of the Council.¡± Erak said,
Aren looked at him somberly. ¡°Erak. I love you, and I respect your decision. I don¡¯t know why you decided to climb the Inth but I¡¯m glad that you did. I¡¯m glad that you are alive and that you fled the pronouncement. I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re my twin, and I wouldn¡¯t trade you for any of our other brothers.¡±
Erak sidestepped the tree to give himself freedom to move. ¡°And?¡± He added, resignation in his voice.
¡°And I am not going to leave you to be hunted down by Nuthian, and whomever else the Highmothers have sent after our kin.¡± Aren said,
¡°And?¡± Erak said, readying blue fire behind his back, the momentary respite in the giving him time to inhale enough of the ((MANA)) rich air to manage some magic.
¡°And if I have to imprison you to protect you, I¡¯m sure that I can manage it.¡± Aren said,
¡°You know.¡± Erak said, as he crafted the fire into a sharp point, ¡°It¡¯s funny, when people first meet us they always assume you¡¯re the troublemaker, Although, you did commit treason.¡±
¡°They always assume you¡¯re older too.¡± Aren said, smiling faintly.
¡°Yes, but they¡¯re right about that.¡± Erak said, smiling back sadly.
¡°You aren¡¯t going to come with me.¡± Aren sighed.
¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Erak said,
¡°I know.¡± Aren said, then he lunged forward.
Aren tackled Erak to the floor, Erak stabbed the small blade of fire into Aren¡¯s thigh. It was too small to cause any serious damage. Aren still shouted in pain, his hand instinctively went to his leg, giving Erak the opening to kick Aren off him and jump to his feet. Erak began to run. The exhaustion from his previous escapades threatening to pull him to the ground. There was no chance he would be able to make it through the forest, so instead he slid into one of the deep empty ruts, and began to run downhill, to wherever the water had gone.
¡°Hey!¡± Aren shouted after him, and there was a blinding flash of light from behind him.
A Beacon. Erak tried to force a little more speed out of his broken body. He was gasping for breath as he ran, you weren¡¯t supposed to breathe through your mouth, but he could barely seem to breath at all. The air was almost thicker here. A ((MANA)) concentration much higher than what should be in a place like this. The trees where tall, and even in the night clearly a deep green, the rains left very little damage here.
He heard footsteps behind him. Along with ragged breathing. Aren. His footsteps were almost drowned out by the buzzing- For some reason, even though he was running for his life, that dang song kept running through his mind. An orb of light soared past his head and he heard Aren shout wordlessly, he was getting closer. It was a feeling deep in his bones. He was getting closer.
The path bended and Erak turned the corner to find three giant ants. They didn¡¯t look quite like normal ants, other than their giantness. They were clearly Dungeon monsters. He had come looking for a Dungeon hadn¡¯t he? He had found the Inth¡¯s loudest valley. All that was left was for him to seek refuge.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The ants were more afraid of Erak than he was of them. He felt his muscles begin to seize again but he kept running. The ants scattered out of the way. Before turning around and running in the same direction Erak was. Seemingly from Erak. They were running too something. They were running home.
The ants quickly over took him, Aren was gaining as well, but it wasn¡¯t long before the trees broke into clearing. The ((MANA)) in the air only growing thicker. He saw the ants skittering around a pit in the ground. The Dungeon. Erak had almost made it to the pit when Aren tackled him, and they rolled inside.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Empress was suddenly greeted by the feeling that Something was different¡ but she couldn¡¯t place what. Doktor let out confused pheromones. So, she must have felt it too, the other ((SAFE_ROOM)) ants looked around wildly. Gatherer crashed through the doors leading to the ((SAFE_ROOM)), she was signaling frantically and incoherently.
Empress didn¡¯t wait for her to calm herself enough for an explanation, it was clear enough, something was wrong. She appeared in the entrance hall. Seven gatherers had circled around something, while one gatherer limped away toward Doktor , Empress pinged them to disburse and they scattered, leaving a clear view of what had gotten them so interested.
Two bipeds were on the floor, they were both slivery and had silver on top of their heads, although, one of them had much longer silver and was injured. They were fighting, which Empress thought was strange, but what was stranger was that her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged them as drones. Which couldn¡¯t be right, because then they wouldn¡¯t be fighting. They would be too busy preparing to start a new colony to be fighting, in her ((DOMAIN)) no less, but her ((UNDERSTANDING)) hadn¡¯t been wrong yet. So, she just assumed that bipeds were strange.
The injured one was losing the fight, the other one seemed stronger. Huh, Empress was surprised by how much she didn¡¯t care, if they didn¡¯t attack her ants. But then again, why would she? Still, it was interesting enough to watch, she floated closer, the bipeds were speaking in a language that she couldn¡¯t understand, despite her ((UNDERSTANDING)) constantly going off in the background.
The stronger stood up, the injured one did not, he had red hemolymph dripping from his nose and from several slashes on his back. Empress pinged Guard, she didn¡¯t want this to be messy. The injured one pulled himself up into a sitting position and began to speak again. She still didn¡¯t understand him, but that wasn¡¯t what she was paying attention to, instead, behind his back there was a flickering of silvery light, the light morphed and changed, it turned from symbols to numbers, to words. The message was only one word long.
Help
Empress blinked, this had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting, she pinged Guard again, this time to hurry. The stronger one was shouting now, his hands were shaking, and he seemed afraid? Of what? Or maybe it was an emotion she couldn¡¯t ((UNDERSTAND)) the injured one stood up shakily, the stronger one advanced, and the injured one seemed to figure out at the same time Empress did, that help wasn¡¯t going to arrive in time. He broke out into a weak stumbling run, but he fell before he could make it very far. Guard was in the spawner room now, but the injured didn¡¯t get back up. He looked in the general direction of her ((GAZE)) but it was clear that he couldn¡¯t see her. Empress was thinking wildly, this biped could communicate with her, at least to some extent, and was willing to, this was a chance to figure out more about the outside world, a chance to find out what was past her forcefield.
she needed someone to get there fast, the stronger one was nearing the other, Gatherer couldn¡¯t fight, Runner couldn¡¯t make it. She blinked, now that was an idea, there was no time to doubt herself, she pinged the mosquitos. The young swarm instantly began to zip through the corridors, their small bodies and wings making them quickly overtake Guard, the swarm soon came into view, a thick black cloud, buzzing like mad, they filled the hallway, although on the way they had condensed into a much smaller form, the two bipeds stared, Empress pinged the swarm and pinned them on the stronger one. They rushed forward, somehow one mass but distinctly individual, Empress felt her ((MANA)) begin to rise as they attacked the Biped.
He was coughing, and waving his arms, and then he started to back away, he began to run for the entrance, everything forgotten but the swarm. Guard and her legionnaires burst into the entrance hall, in what must¡¯ve been a well-practiced maneuver, the two smallest majors began to drag the injured one out of the room while the rest charged, with Guard at the front. Empress pinged the Swarm to withdraw and they floated back, behind the guards, but still blocking the entrance to further into her ((DOMAIN)). The Biped was coughing and several mosquitos floated sluggishly out of his mouth, then found a place to perch on the walls.
The Biped stared at the guards for a moment, but the obsidian ants lowered their huge heads and opened their mandibles, ready to attack. The Biped struggled to climb over the small cliff, but he managed it and stumbled out of the Dungeon.
VICTORIOUS ENCOUNTER, +50 MANA
Swiping away the box and pinging Gatherer to halt all expeditions until further notice, Empress then pinged Guard and the Swarm to return to their posts. She hadn¡¯t had the mosquito spawner for very long, but if that was the affect they could have on a threat¡ The group started to disburse and Empress floated over to the ((SAFE_ROOM)). The ((SAFE_ROOM))-ants were all scuttling around the injured biped, he groaned and the trio backed away.
Empress tried to reach out to the biped the same way she did with her colonists, but she was met with a cold emptiness. She bobbed up and down contemplatively. The biped carefully shifted into a sitting position, he looked around the room, and at the trio of ants.
He looked pale, or less shiny and tears began to form in his eyes, then he blinked them away, all while keeping a calm expression, he glanced at the blood on his hands and began to speak. ((MANA)) flowed out of him and into the air, dancing with his words, the bright blue strands stretching out to form tributaries. Charged with mystical energy that no one understood or wanted to understand, then it shifted, it weaved into a new pattern, a new line of ((CODE)) then it filtered into his back. Ge visibly relaxed, and his eyes cleared slightly, Empress looked on transfixed, her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged softly, a spell¡ he ran his hand through the black sand, then he smoothed it out, he hesitated for a moment before drawing in the sand.
I am hurt, I cannot heal myself.
Empress tilted her ((GAZE)), He wiped away the words, his face passive and unreadable, and began again
I thank you for your help, I am sorry that I have nothing to offer you in return but knowledge and stories.
Blinking, Empress turned to Doktor , the ant scuttled forward. Her soft steps kicking up a few grains of sand as she approached. Erak looked at the ant, a hint of confusion showing through his neutral expression. Doktor began to circle the biped slowly, inspecting, she let out a burst of pheromones, and the other two ((SAFEROOM))-ants approached. He lifted an arm, as if to protect himself, but Doktor tilted her head to the side, and lowered her mandibles, she let out a soft buzzing sound that seemed to calm him somewhat. She approached again, this time the biped let her. She crouched over his leg, and carefully peeled back some of the damaged clothing covering it.
Angry red gashes were revealed. They weren¡¯t deep and Doktor began to apply the thick white salve. The drones stone face quickly vanished, replaced by disgust. Doktor waited a moment, and the bipeds face changed again as the paste hardened. He nodded to her, and took off his shirt. Tossing the shirt, which was more of a shredded rag, to the side. Wounds along with black scars filled his back. Six claw marks scrapped deep into his flesh, interrupting the picture painted by the rest of his scars. Doktor clacked her mandibles, then she looked up at Empress.
Empress glowed dimly. Doktor practically cooed at the biped. He bended over, and allowed Doktor to apply the paste. Runner trotted into the room with a piece of fruit in her mandibles, her stride hesitated when she saw the biped, but she hastily walked forward and plopped it into his lap, she waved an antenna to her sister and left the ((SAFE_ROOM)) as quickly as possible without breaking into a run.
The biped looked exhausted, but he grabbed the fruit and inspected it for a moment, he scooted over to the pond with a grunt and rinsed the sand off, he shook the water from the fruit and bit into its red flesh, the inside was white and it made an audible crunching sound. Huh. The biped devoured the fruit, but he left its ((CORE)) intact, he tossed it to one of the ((SAFEROOM))-ants who deftly caught the ((CORE)) and swallowed it.
The man wiped the juice from his chin and yawned, he looked around. The Dungeon was dark, he was sure it would be pitch black if he didn¡¯t have night vision. He was able to make out what looked to be a fire pit, and some torches on the walls, his ((MANA POOL)) was bottoming out, even with the slight boost from the apple. He summoned fire and the torches on the walls sputtered to life, casting the room in a blue glow, his eyes quickly adjusted, the fire pit was empty, but he saw some logs strewn about the room. He tried to stand up, but the ((SAFE_ROOM)) ants protested. So he sat. He raised an arm, silver text appeared, then sputtered.
A pained look came across his face, but he quickly hid it. Then he sighed. And began to write in the sand.
I am Erak Eithidien, my mother is Eriath, I am a Luna Elf formally of the kingdom Herel. This world is named Mazre, this continent is named Litone, and you are in a mountain range named the Inth peaks.
Her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged rapidly, each new word defining itself instantly, Empress hummed in excitement. Erak smoothed away his words, he waited before responding as if he didn¡¯t know what to say next.
I am a ((READER)), a biped trained over a long period to communicate with Dungeons. I came here searching for Dungeons but was attacked.
There is a war in Litone, between many peoples, so it is dangerous to travel.
I apologize for leading him to your domain it was an act of desperation, please forgive me.
If he returns, please do not hurt him.
I am a part of a guild for ((READERS)), in years past, Dungeons were not given proper rights, despite being fully sapient beings, and citizens of various kingdoms. The ((READERS)) guild hopes to prevent this. I cannot hear you, but I can sense you in a way, through the ((MANA WAVES))
He erased his words and started again,
The Inth mountains are perilous at the best of times, and I am being hunted, may I stay here until they have gone? I will do my best to assist you in anything that you need and answer any questions you may have.
Empress nodded, but Erak did not seem to react. ¡°Yes?¡± she tried aloud, but he did not react, she tilted her ((GAZE)), strange, she thought about how she communicated with her ants. They spoke through pheromones, she spoke with words, but they both spoke with emotions, she unfocused her ((GAZE)) and tried to think of the idea of agreement.
After a blink, Erak seemed to deflate, all his muscles relaxed, and he suddenly looked very different, he gave a weak nod of thanks and carefully laid down on the sand. Like the ants did, he burrowed slightly to make an indent, then he closed his eyes and his breaths became slow and regular. His hair was gently strewn on the sand, and the platinum blond made the dark grey sand look black as charcoal, he looked peaceful as he slept, but a shadow rested permanently on his face, he pulled his arms to his chest, holding his hands over his heart as if it pained him, his legs were slightly bent, but not held to his chest, the blue firelight reflected off his shimmering sliver skin.
Empress looked at him for a moment, she wondered at how quickly he could change, he went from afraid and running, to polite and businesslike, now he seemed almost melancholic. Her ants didn¡¯t change like that, neither did the mosquitos. She wondered if she changed, the thought scared her. she watched him sleep for a long time, and Empress decided that she was going to protect this strange creature.
As she headed toward Builder, she passed through the spawner room, The Nameless One gave her an acknowledging clack. She could see the growing glow of the moss from the spawner room and she made a mental note to check up on Gardener. She floated through the hallway connecting the storeroom to the flooded hallway. Ants lined the walls and floor, most of them were runners, but occasionally you would see a builder, or a guard on patrol. A runner zoomed past on the left wall, dashing right through her ((GAZE)). Empress froze, then she shivered, the ant continued without noticing, she waited for another blink, and then she entered the storeroom.
Stocker was sleeping in a small ditch unaware of the bustle of construction, the room was still in shambles, but she would deal with that later. Empress turned to where the builder ants were hard at work on the hallway above the flooded hallway. The Swarm buzzed softly and settled on the walls and on the floating pieces of driftwood, the builders were second-guessing every step, trying not to smush the nearly invisible mosquitos as they carried out chunks of earth to the runner¡¯s waiting below, this precarious dance occasionally resulted in builders falling into the swampy water.
Builder navigated her crew until she had crawled on the roof and scuttled from her position in the newest part of the tunnel into the storeroom to look at Empress, she expressed discontent.
¡°She doesn¡¯t think these conditions seem ideal.¡± She replied slowly, watching as another builder plummeted into the flooded hallway.
Builder began to pace back and forth angrily; the hallway was taking twice as long as it should.
Empress reached out to her with her mind, trying to calm her, but all she was met with was frustration, recoiling slightly she spoke, ¡°She¡¯ll see what she can do.¡±
Builder stormed off hissing at a mosquito as she passed, the offending insect flew up and landed on a crowded piece of driftwood.
Empress pinged the Swarm, and instantly an uncountable amount of tiny flying bugs shot up into the air. They congregated in the storeroom, buzzing loudly, their wings working the air in the Storeroom up into a soft breeze. Stocker didn¡¯t stir from her sleep. Not knowing quite what to do next, Empress hesitated, where could she put them? They would be in the hallways, maybe the ((SAFE_ROOM)) ceiling? could she make some kind of enclave? She glanced at her ((MANA POOL)) she probably could, but it was too dangerous to send out expeditions right now, she couldn¡¯t recover ((MANA)) easily and she wasn¡¯t sure if she was stable enough with people looking for Erak.
Something clicked, a way to solve both her problems. Empress ((COMMANDED)) the Swarm to go to the entrance hallway. The Swarm zipped through the Dungeon, dislodging more than one ant on its way. She pinged Gatherer, maybe a little too late, the swarm arriving before Gatherer could warn her teams. The gatherers were all lazing around or sleeping, the ones who were awake dashed out of the way of the Swarm while the sleeping ones flailed in shock as they were awoken by mosquitos landing on top of them.
Gatherer stood at the top of the small cliff, which was about the height of Erak, she expressed confusion.
¡°Can you send the Swarm on expeditions?¡± Empress hummed,
Gatherer nodded, but she seemed disappointed, and a little scared.
¡°Your teams will go back out once we are sure that you can¡¯t be followed.¡± Empress promised, sensing Gatherer¡¯s fear, she added, ¡°Besides, they can¡¯t gather materials, it¡¯s mostly to get them out of the way.¡±
Leaving the Swarm with Gatherer, Empress wasn¡¯t sure what else to do everything was in order, she floated toward the moss hallway. She was glad that she had the leader ants, without them she could never be able to expand. But it did leave her without much to do sometimes. She wondered how much they understood when she talked to them.
Entering the moss hallway, Empress bobbed up and down as she looked at the well-manicured paths and well, gardens of thick glowing moss. She looked around for the Gardeners, but, even though she sensed them, she couldn¡¯t see them. Empress floated around the hallway, toward where she sensed the gardeners, they didn¡¯t seem to be physically there. Which was impossible. She scanned the hallway, in one patch the moss seemed to be less thick, and she looked closer, inside of a small divot were three very mossy ants, curled up in sleep. Empress made a nearly silent ¡°Oh.¡± sound and slowly floated away as if her ((GAZE)) would make some kind of sound if she moved too quickly
Slipping into the ((SANCTUM)) Empress flicked through her ((MENU)) absentmindedly, she already knew what she would find, other than a few minor stat changes, it was the same, it was strange when she was younger, she couldn¡¯t get away from her ((MENU)) but now? She opened her ((SKILLS)) tab,
MENU
STATUS SKILLS HELP ROOMS REPUTATION OVERVIEW
MANA MANIPULATION LV 1 RANK 1
You can, to some extent, control mana around and inside you, has many uses.
MANA INFUSION LV 1 RANK 1
You can, to some extent, infuse mana into objects and beings, has many uses.
TOGGLE GAZE LV 1 RANK 1: You can adjust the amount of light you perceive with your primary sensory ¡®organ¡¯ to some extent. RARE
UNDERSTANDING LV 2 RANK 1: You gain a certain amount of knowledge and comprehension when you encounter a being or concept for the first time. RARE
UNPREDICTABLE LV 1 RANK 1: Due to not being a match for your species¡¯ compatible alignments, you have gained the ability to adjust the alignments of your colonists
She sighed and closed the box. Empress flicked off her ((GAZE)) and relaxed, she felt the ((MANA)) in her ((DOMAIN)), each of her ants was like a little splotch of light. The mosquitos were like glowing pinpricks, they had already begun to form another swarm, although it would take them a while to become a nuisance.
The moss shined as much with ((MANA)) as it did light, and the Biped, no, Erak was positively shining. Empress could feel fragments of Erak seeping into the ground, being absorbed, and turning into pure ((MANA)). She softly shook her ((GAZE)), and pushed it back toward him. She didn¡¯t know how much he could stand to lose, almost as an afterthought, she pushed some of her ((MANA)) toward him too. Empress couldn¡¯t sleep, but she grew still, in an almost trancelike state that conserved ((MANA)) and allowed her to process her experiences. She was still aware of her wider self, but her mind was confined to her ((CORE)), and the rest of her ((DOMAIN)) was a soft, lucid dream, that she guided along without much thought.
The first Peril
He was slowly pulled from quite possibly the most restful sleep he had felt in his entire life by the stale air beginning to circulate and the sound of a creaking door swinging open.
His body ached, and his mouth was dry, he pushed himself onto his back and stared at the shadowed ceiling. He rolled onto his other side, wincing slightly as he moved and found what looked to be a firepit. He had seen the empty circle of stones briefly last night, but now it was filled with small logs, perfectly cut into easily manageable pieces with the surgical precision of a dungeon. He summoned fire and blue flame began to lick the logs, the torches along the walls lit as well, although that wasn¡¯t his intention. The fires grew until the room began brightly illuminated, the blue gave the glow a slightly eerie feel.
Erak lay on the silky ground for a while, silently wishing for a blanket. He closed his eyes, his tiredness, hunger, and thirst battling for supremacy, eventually his thirst won out. He stood up slowly and grunted, and a sharp pain shot through his injured leg, Erak dug his nails into his palms and hobbled over to the small pond. With a quick spell checked it for parasites then he washed his face. He couldn¡¯t count the amount of times he scooped water into his palms. Then finally he stood up and limped out of the ((SAFE_ROOM)).
He shivered as grew closer to the entrance, the fresh air biting his lungs. The only thing stopping him from leaving was a sheer wall was almost as tall as he was. One of the brownish ants helped him climb over and out. Which was surprising. He scanned the area around the entrance, reaching out mentally for any kind of ((MANA TRAIL)) his brother may have left behind.
He returned to the fireplace and slowly sat down; Erak lowered himself into a laying position and was about to close his eyes once more when the trio of slightly reddish ants from last night returned from the room beyond the ((SAFE_ROOM)). The two smaller ones dropped a couple pieces of fruit in his lap, while the larger one stared at him. Erak sitting back up with a grunt, picked up what looked to be a pear, and looked at it for a moment. He was trying to decide if he would rather wipe it off on his slimy tunic, eat it with ant spit on it, or painfully stand up and wash it off, when the larger ant walked up to him and began to gently prod his injured leg.
Erak flinched, the ant stopped and cocked its head at him, analyzing, it looked a little confused, almost, it stretched out one of its antennae toward him, Erak hesitated. The ant looked at him expectantly. Erak, not wanting to risk offense, reached out with his hand. The ant gently brushed its antennae along his palm in slow deliberate motions, obviously, they meant something, but the meaning was lost to him. Strangely, Erak got the sense that it was treating him like it would treat a frightened child, or perhaps someone very stupid. He felt the Dungeon¡¯s eye turn to him.
The ant pulled away and turned back to inspect Erak¡¯s leg. He forced himself to not recoil from the monstrous creature, it moved slowly, often looking back at him. Erak forced his muscles to relax. The ant leaned over his injured leg. The hard white casing that it had placed over it before crumbled. Erak flinched. The ant didn¡¯t seem to notice. Its mandibles cut the fabric away, it passed what previously had been his pant leg to one of the smaller ants. Who dragged it over to the pond. Erak couldn¡¯t see what it was doing however, because the second ant blocked his view.
While the large ant had begun to excrete another substance onto his leg. A cool numbness spread wherever the greyish liquid spread. For a moment the elf wondered if he was going to be eaten. The other ant came back with the cloth. The large ant backed away and the other two approached. They slid the damp cloth under his leg. The sand should¡¯ve stuck to it, but it fell away after a soft breeze of ((MANA)) wafted through the room. The duo twisted the fabric around and around the wound. When they ran out of cloth, then they spat onto the edges of the fabric and it hardened.
Erak¡¯s hands shook slightly, then he sighed and slipped off his shirt. He imagined six angry red streaks that had been torn through his musculature. Marring the large tattoo that had removed most sensation in his back in the first place. He folded himself in half, resting his brow in the sand, his muscles protested the movement. There was a sound of excited or panicked chittering, and then a faint cooling sensation.
The ants left him, and Erak couldn¡¯t find the energy to push himself back into a sitting position, or put his shirt back on. He laid there in the sand, his mind quietly wandering as energy seemed to seep its way into his limbs as the pain and soreness receded. What sort of dungeon would heal a stranger? You could bet on a dungeon being curious, but not on them being helpful. Mentally he tried to identify the dungeon. She was obviously Entopathic, maybe a hive? He didn¡¯t think she was too old, but couldn¡¯t be sure until he investigated how many floors she had. He laid there what felt like hours, then he stood up, his musculature¡¯s protests temporarily deafened by the ants. He put his shirt back on.
Erak walked over to the wall and unhooked one of the blue torches, his feet seemed to make far too much noise on the black sand, maybe that was intentional? He reached the door that led into the next room, it had no handle and looked thin, so he gently pressed on it. The door easily swung open. He hoisted his torch to reveal a dank earthen corridor. He felt something itch in the back of his mind that made him uneasy, like a constant scratching sound too quiet to be properly heard.
Erak continued with one hand dragging along the wall, his eyes flicking to every corner of the room, looking for any potential traps or encounters that the Dungeon might send his way. The hallways were long and tall, it took him a solid minute to pass through it and it was eerily empty. The hallway began to open into a room, he could see golden light peeking into the hallway and Erak quickened his pace and arrived at another door, a soft, dim glow penetrated the roughly put-together wood. He gently pushed on the door and it easily swung open.
The spawner room was more alive than the ((SAFE_ROOM)), the spawner itself glowed with life, but the room itself also seemed like a hub of traffic. The walls were earthen and curved upward into the roundish ceiling which was shored up with four uneven wooden pillars, and planks stretched across the ceiling, guarding against a faux danger of collapse. The wall behind the golden spawner had simple pictures of ants carved into it. He didn¡¯t see any importance in the decoration, if the Dungeon had ((RETAINERS)) he would¡¯ve met them instead of the medic ant.
Ants crawled on the ceilings, walls, and floors to get to other parts of the Dungeon, rarely was there an empty patch of traversable space. Sitting beside the spawner was an ant that was a bit darker and larger than the others, it had two large bulges on its back. Erak had seen a few different types of ants so far, but this one seemed strange, it turned its head toward him and he glimpsed something in its beady black eyes that made him shiver. He waited in the spawner room for a moment, looking around for the inevitable encounter, but it never came. An ant spawned, the strange ant clacked her mandibles together and the newborn walked up to her meekly, they touched antennae and the newborn went down the hallway to the left, slipping through the swinging doors after another ant before they closed.
Strange, he thought and followed the ant to the left hallway. Once again, the hallway was empty of traps and encounters but this time it was not empty of ants. They filled the hallway constantly running back and forth, more than once some ant hissed or clicked at him angrily for getting in the way, however, nothing attacked him. The hallway opened into another room.
This room felt larger than the spawner room but smaller than the ((SAFE_ROOM)) the walls were lined with cubby holes that were only half filled with various vegetation, he saw some fruit and berries, but it was mostly plants Erak didn¡¯t recognize. The floor was riddled with dips that were filled with green boughs; the room was relatively empty other than that. Ants dashed in and out of the room carrying clumps of material, most of them crawling on the ceiling to get past what looked like an underground lake. The lake was swarmed by ants. The quick orangish ants darted in and took clumps of dirt from the larger reddish-brown ones, then left just as quickly as they came in.
Only one ant wasn¡¯t moving at a frantic pace. It was horribly disfigured, and one of its antennae was shorter than the other, it hobbled around the room with only three whole legs, two were missing and scarred over while another was bent and dragged on the floor. It pulled a thin bundle of dried grasses out of a cubby and turned to put it in another. On its abdomen there was a long and thick scar that cut along its entire length. Erak swallowed, it was rare to find crippled monsters in a Dungeon though, not unheard of. If a ((BOSS)) went unbeaten for a long time then it would gain some scars if a ((RETAINER)) was attacked and did not die, it may limp or favor its wounds until it is slain again, but a regular monster that is severally crippled that hadn¡¯t been sold was very strange, maybe the selling price wasn¡¯t worth it?
Erak shrugged and walked toward the lake. The lake consisted of thick swampy water that made the air around it smelt sulfurous, it bubbled up every once in and a while, and mosquitos would fly up. He shivered. Rotted wood floated on the surface of the lake, and a blackened staircase covered in mold led down into the depths, promising treasure, curiosity coursed through his veins as he was about to lean his torch against the wall, but a pang in his leg made him rethink his decision.
He looked up at the ants swarming the corridor, and realized that it didn¡¯t continue. He furrowed his brow and looked closer. The ants were digging out the hallway. By hand, or mandible. That was¡ incredibly inefficient. Why hadn¡¯t the Dungeon just bought a hallway? unless of course, she couldn¡¯t afford it.
Actually. Yes. That made sense. The Dungeon probably didn¡¯t have a source of consistent prey this deep in the mountains, so she conserved ((MANA)) by having monsters expand her domain. Its not like she would have many threats this far out either, so she could afford a slower pace, that explained the lack of traps as well. Causing a strange developmental path. Erak smiled to himself and turned to leave.
He re-entered the spawner room and slipped through the doors and into the other hallway. He instantly flinched at the brightness, the whole hallway glowed. Some kind of vegetation layered the earthen walls, the corridor was empty, twisting thin pathways led through the glowing plant. Erak didn¡¯t need his torch to see now. Reaching down, he felt the plant between his fingers, moss. With another slight smile, Erak picked his way through the moss, careful to walk on the provided pathways, lest he arouse the anger of the Dungeon who had so kindly given him board, and came to another door. This door was smoother than the others.
Erak pushed open the door, it swung open easily and the green glow of the moss illuminated the ((CORE)) room. His torch sputtered out. For a moment, confusion showed on his face, he would¡¯ve thought this would be the boss room, that she would have some sort of protection before the ((SANCTUM)). The ants and mosquitos would ward off tired travelers, but he could tell, most adventurers would clear the Dungeon without much difficulty, especially if they took the trouble to come all the way out here. He shook his head and looked upon the ((SANCTUM)).
The room was plain, for a ((SANCTUM)). His eyes were drawn first to the ((CORE)) itself, a golden crystal teardrop, that, he noted quite concerningly seemed to be internally cracked. The doors swung shut behind him, and the glow of the ((CORE)) became more visible, it sat upon a simple stone pillar, with carvings that seemed to depict her emergence. Seven ants, one orb. He took a step forward and the ground crunched under his feet, was it sand again? Even with his night sight, he couldn¡¯t tell, the glow from the previous room practically blinding him.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
A loud hiss interrupted his thoughts and he froze. He squinted in the darkness until his eyes fell upon a large dark shape at the bottom of the ((CORE)) pillar, he gripped his extinguished torch a little tighter. The thing stood up and was illuminated in the glow of the ((CORE)). It was an ant, he had seen some others like it in the Dungeon, and they were the ones that had attacked Erann, they were obviously meant to be more offensive. This one seemed bigger, he tried to remember if he had seen a ((RETAINER)) when the Dungeon attacked Erann, but he wasn¡¯t sure. There was no way the Dungeon had a ((RETAINER)).
The ant made an echoing clicking sound, it bounced around the room, and then it was chorused by several invisible voices. The message was clear, he was not alone. Erak took a deep breath, bowed to the ((CORE)), and turned his attention to the rest of the room. There was a table with an unreadable sign hanging from it, donation table, that was normal enough. There was a total of eight stone pillars in the room, besides the one holding the ((CORE)). Each of them seemed to depict a different story, or perhaps even memories, in crude, tribal drawings. Four in the corners, four around the ((CORE)).
Erak walked to the pillar opposite the donation table, lots of ants were in one place, the ((SANCTUM)), he could see by the drawing of the ((CORE)), one group of ants was in a circle around four ants, one of the four ants looked like she might have been missing some of her legs, but it was hard to tell. In the next picture, it was about the same, except the circle was gone and an ant was in the air maybe? It was hard to tell, but she seemed mangled in this carving. He ran his hand along the grooves in the stone, wondering what they would reveal about this Dungeon- when they were properly copied and analyzed of course.
He turned to the ((CORE)), and stared at the internal crack in the crystal, how had that happened? What secrets of life did she hold? There was a trill of excitement in his chest as he was reminded of why he had wanted to become a ((READER)) in the first place when he could¡¯ve become a ((DIPLOMAT)). Dungeons were... complicated, many of them knew things they couldn¡¯t possibly, remembered things that never happened, but they always tended toward the extremes. It was no wonder that older Dungeons tended to shatter themselves. Erak wouldn¡¯t be able to stand an existence, confined to a space where your only companions were mindless servants and you can¡¯t tell if people are just trying to use you or trying to kill you.
He felt the Dungeons eye upon him, so he turned away from the ((CORE)) and left the ((SANCTUM)), hoping that she didn¡¯t sense his pity. He stood in the mossy hallway, it was the only area with proper lighting, his eyes were drawn to a strange patch of moss, he stared and his elf eyes were eventually able to make out the shape of three ants, curled in a hole covered with a patch of moss, now that he thought about it, the moss seemed incredibly thick and long for moss. Erak smiled.
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She ¡®woke up¡¯ to a strange feeling of dread, being pulled from her state of the subconscious, she quickly scanned her ((DOMAIN)), and for a moment she hesitated on Erak, who was staring at her ((CORE)), but once he noticed her ((GAZE)) was on him he left. He seemed to be more injured than she first thought, his back was covered in red slashes and black scars. The feeling remained. The ants who were still asleep woke up and began to go busily about their duties, and those who were already awake hurried at their work. She paced back and forth through the hallways.
ENCOUNTER FAILED +20 MANA
¡°What?¡± Empress whispered, ¡°What encounter?¡±
She scanned her ((DOMAIN)) again, and everything was in order. Everything was fine. The feeling of dread remained, Empress¡¯ ((GAZE)) appeared in the entrance hallway, adjusting to the brighter light, Gatherer was leaning against the bottom of the small drop, posture relaxed. Nothing was out of order. She scrutinized the white wall that separated her ((DOMAIN)) from the rest of Mazre as if it would give way and reveal the threat to her. Empress was about to turn around when a mosquito slowly fluttered in the doorway. It flew sluggishly, its small translucent wings beating with an intense effort, it began to spiral downward unsteadily, halfway to the floor it dropped from the air, landing with a silent thud on the dirt floor, its legs were sprawled and its broken body twitched for a moment before it went still.
ENCOUNTER FAILED +20 MANA
Empress blinked. She floated closer, almost without realizing it. Every detail of the bug became sharp and defined, a thin sticky substance coated her wings, her head was half crushed, with her needle-like nose was torn away. She died a painful death, Empress reasoned. Floating away from the corpse, her ((GAZE)) adjusted to its regular zoom. Her mind, like that of all Dungeons, dissociated from her emotions and began to calculate the magnitude the of threat. She pinged Guard to mobilize her troops, then turned to Gatherer, wordlessly, Gatherer stood up, stretched like a cat, and began to rouse her squads. Who all followed her toward the((SAFE_ROOM)). She moved the second Swarm to the spawner room, even if it was barely a third of the firsts size. Empress stared at the entrance, and waited, five guards soon joined her, followed by Erak, who stopped a bit from the entrance.
Silver words appeared in the space in front of him. ¡°Is something happening?¡±
Empress glanced at him, but she was in no mood to converse, she pinged Doktor to deal with him and resumed her vigil. Erak muttered something aloud, and ((MANA)) began to swirl. With a mild interest, Empress half paid attention to the way Erak¡¯s ((MANA)) clashed with hers. Erak tensed. Empress blinked. He could see something.
A long purple stick with hooked ends was pushed through the top of the forcefield, around the stick was tied a black chainmail(?) of some kind, and golden plates sewn onto it. It hooked to the ceiling, Empress¡¯ ((GAZE)) tilted. Another stick quickly took its place across from the other, it was identical. They both bent in places as if jointed, and Erak began to back away.
A creature lunged into the cave, it jumped through Empress¡¯ ((GAZE)), hissing, it was a blur of purple, black, and gold, three times the size of an ant. Tackling Erak the floor the beast snapped mandibles at his face, Erak pushed that swirl of ((MANA)) against the fangs, pushing them barely back, something dripped from the fangs. It only had a two-segmented abdomen, while the ants had three segments, but it made up for that lack in its legs and eyes. The beast had eight spindly legs that dug into the dirt floor and six eyes. It was wearing armor, onyx chainmail under a golden half plate. But it needed no weapons. ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged, Spider, a chill swept through her ((DOMAIN)).
The guards charged the spider, weaving between its legs as Erak continued to struggle under the monsters weight. One of the guards wrapped her enlarged mandibles around a joint in the spider¡¯s armor, and she struggled then bit down. The monster buckled and, while it had been ignoring the ants before, turned from Erak to face her attackers. Erak scrambled to his feet, gasping for breath. A second creature entered the Dungeon, it walked on two feet and wore full steel armor, except it lacked a helmet, it brandished a spear. Unlike Erak, who only had hair on the top of his head, the new creature had short grey fur that showed on all exposed places of its body. Its face was long and muzzled and two grey and bronze wings peaked out from his armor. Erak scrambled to his feet, and pushed himself into a fighting stance.
A guard climbed the walls until she was above the raging spider, she prepared to jump, but the furred thing threw his spear. It easily pierced her exoskeleton and she fell to the ground. Erak balled his hands into fists. Then a blue fireball shot toward the spider. The furred one pulled his weapon from the ant, and threw his spear again, this time at Erak. The spider threw one of the guards into a wall, she didn¡¯t get back up. Crushing another guard under her feet, the spider hissed. The remaining two sisters stood together as they redoubled their assault. The ball of fire hit the spider squarely in the thorax, but it didn¡¯t react. Another wave of ((MANA)) and the spear stopping in midair just as it was going to sink into Erak¡¯s chest. It hovered in the air, the elf¡¯s hands shook, he grabbed the spear. The furred beast barked something angrily at Erak.
Erak shouted a challenge in reply. Holding the spear ready, the beast charged him, shifting as he ran, shrinking and growing at the same time, until he was an entirely different creature. Her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged, wolf, falcon. The Spider lifted the last guard ant in its fangs, crushing her as she let out a silent death cry. The spider hissed to the wolf-bird, and the wolf circled Erak, growling a reply. A fire glowed on the tip of the spear. The spider ran down the corridor at an unnatural speed. The swarm chasing after it.
Empress was angry, it was a cold, simple anger, that didn¡¯t match the pure indignant rage she sensed from her colonists. How dare it? How dare some base monster so easily push through her defenses? She pinged the rest of her ants to congregate in the spawner room, and she left Erak to fight the other monster.
DUE TO THREAT LEVEL 10 BEING PRESENT, ALL COLONISTS HAVE TEMPORARILY SWITCHED TO THE FATAL ALIGNMENT.
The spider dashed through the ((SAFE_ROOM)) and the gatherers and Doktor ants waited for it to leave the room before giving chase. The spider tore the door to the spawner room off its hinges and cast it aside. The newborn swarm struck at its six eyes while almost a hundred angry ants climbed up its legs and tore at its armor. The Nameless One managed to crawl onto its back and strike at its neck. It didn¡¯t seem to be hindered as it entered the spawner room. The spider sunk its fangs into a runner who squealed before dying. It climbed up the mural and onto the roof, trampling those underfoot.
It grabbed the nearest ant, a builder this time, and threw it into the crowd. Guard abandoned her post in the ((SANCTUM)) and ran toward the spider like a stampeding bull. She charged the Spider, who turned to face her just in time for fangs to lock with mandibles, the swarm disbursed from the shock of the clash, The Nameless One fell off the back of the spider and onto the floor.
Empress tilted her head, and if she had a face, would¡¯ve smiled. She connected her ((MANA POOL)) to Guard and pushed. Her ((MANA POOL)) was less than full, but Guard still shivered and began to push back against the crushing weight instead of buckling.
CONGRATULATIONS ONE OF-
¡°Silenced,¡± Empress shouted, dumping the stat points into strength without checking how many levels she had given Guard. She could tell the ant was beginning to molt.
Guard¡¯s six legs gripped the dirt firmly as the spider pushed downward with its superior weight and size. The nameless one took command and the enraged colonists pulled back, encircling the combatants, heckling pheromones saturated the air, but they wouldn¡¯t even think of disobeying orders. Once the monster fell, they would swarm it. Guard twisted under the weight, inching her mandibles lock on the spider¡¯s fangs closer to the beast''s hissing face.
Empress saw every muscle under Guard¡¯s chitin flex, the black ant dug her back legs into the floor, then she pushed up with her front legs. Thrusting upward with incredible force. Thrown off balance, the spider tried to disentangle itself from the ant, but Guard used its retreat to jump forward and close her mandibles around the spider¡¯s armored throat.
A howl echoed through the Dungeon. The blunt points on Guard¡¯s mandibles couldn¡¯t pierce the black chainmail that the spider wore, but her bite force was strong enough to crush.
The spider began to thrash, frantically trying to dislodge its attacker, more out of fear of suffocation, than decapitation. The other colonists rushed forward and began to strike at the beast¡¯s legs, climbing and burying the monster in biting bodies. Hissing the spider looked around frantically for a retreat, feeling the jaws of death around its throat, and unable to remove them, it knew that there was only one way that the fight could still be won.
The spider charged through the crowd of ants, and directly toward the moss hallway door, the doors swung wildly as it ran past, knocking several of the ants off the back of the spider, the colonists gave chase. Guard still clung to its throat. The spider swung around, ((MANA)) crackled in the air for a moment and a blue web appeared in front of it, the spider turned around again and quickly reached its top speed. Ants charged at the web, and the runners reached it first, the second they touched the thick blue strands of silk, they began to convulse, smoke began to curl up from the unlucky ants, and they let out frantic pheromones, but none of their sisters came to aid them, even after they died, they were not released. The swarm ran into the web and merely made popping sounds and fell to the floor. The spider tore up moss as it ran, leaving polka-dotted holes in the manicured moss beds. Empress felt fear mingle with the ever-present rage as the monster burst into the ((SANCTUM)).
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Erak stared at the hybrid Beastkin as he circled him, each time, he grew closer, slowly tightening the noose around Erak¡¯s neck. What had the Spider said his name was? Quinton? Erak adjusted his grip on the spear. Blue fire flickered on its head. it was long and well balanced, but it was a weapon he was unfamiliar with. Erak remember the Beastkin¡¯s name, it was probably for the best, it was harder to kill someone once you knew their name.
Erak¡¯s blood ran hot, he could hear his heart in his ears, and the world seemed to be in extremely sharp detail, his back still held the wounds of their last encounter. Erak wished he had put his shirt back on. He let the fire on the tip of the spear sputter out, leaving it glowing red, and hot. The wolf pounced, his wings clasped to his sides, fangs gleaming and his eyes bright. Erak held the spear aloft, the wolf used his wings to steer away from the point, landing beside the elf, but unable to pounce on him. Erak spun the spear and slammed the butt into the Beastkin''s ribs. The wolf yelped and skidded away, the talons on his front legs leaving tracks in the dirt. Erak ran at the Beastkin and the Beastkin snarled, Erak let his hand fall to the middle of the spear.
The wolf leaped back as Erak thrust the spear at him, Erak pushed magic through the shaft of the weapon, snapping it in two. The wolf landed unsteadily on his feet. Erak stared at the two halves of the spear before spinning on his heel, and slinging the molten spearhead at the Beastkin. It moved far faster than it should have as telekinesis enveloped it and pushed it through the air.
I, me and Murder
The wolf tried to spring to the side, but with a sharp nudge of telekinesis the spearhead sunk deep into his stomach at an angle, the heated tip piercing his armor. The Beastkin howled, stumbling to his feet, his wings twitching. He snarled at Erak, swaying where he stood.
Erak tested his ((MANA POOL)) and yanked the spearhead out of the wolf¡¯s side with another surge of telekinesis. The Beastkin yelped and fell to the ground, limp. The wound didn¡¯t bleed, the heat must¡¯ve cauterized it. Erak plucked the bloody spearhead from the air with his free hand, and let the spell die. The splintered shaft was too long to be a comfortable weapon for him. The Beastkin shifted to his man form and lay gasping on the floor. Erak dropped the spearhead. Instead he hefted blunt side of the broken spear and whacked the wolfman over the head. He groaned but stayed awake.
Erak, if asked after the fact, could never explain why he did what he did next. It was something he would regret, not for the rest of his life, Elves rarely remembered their transgressions that long, but Erak would regret killing Quillian. Even if he had been mortally wounded from his first blow. The death of the beastkin wasn¡¯t what he would regret. The air buzzed with hatred. It wasn¡¯t Erak¡¯s hatred certainly, and he didn¡¯t think it was the Dungeon¡¯s either. There was something else. Something that demanded Erak killed the wounded man, not simply put him out of his misery, not remove a threat, but kill him. And kill him he did.
He pointed the splintered side of the busted spear shaft at the Beastkin¡¯s face, the wolfman looked at him, helplessly, with the frenzied gaze of a wounded animal.
The sharp splintered wood hovered an inch from the Beastkin¡¯s eye. His mouth moved silently as he struggled to produce words.
and then Erak stabbed.
He pressed downward in one coordinated thrust, placing his entire body weight behind one action.
The beastkin screamed, his limbs flailed wildly. Erak looked confused.
He stood over him, and with a grunt, removed the pole from his eye. The beastkin didn¡¯t make an attempt to move, but his chest shifted up and down erratically. Blood welled in the eye socket. The eye itself hadn¡¯t gotten lodged onto the butt of the spear, but instead had been shoved back farther into the skull, causing the wound to essentially plug itself.
Erak stabbed again.
There was a sight sqliush this time. The face of the Beastkin contorted and he writhed, weakly trying to raise his arms in defense. The spear shaft was pushed deeper.
Something gave way, and there was a soft and noticeable crack.
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The beastkin went still. Erak stared at the corpse for a moment, confusion evident on his face.
Then he stumbled back. He looked at his hands and was surprised to find them completely clean. It really hadn¡¯t been all that messy of a fight. The man¡¯s internal fluids were mostly still contained inside of his body.
The man¡
The beastkin¡¯s wings were stretched at odd angles. His muzzle was parsed open slightly. He looked no different than he had alive, a little surprised maybe. If it wasn¡¯t for the wooden staff sticking out of his cranium, Erak would¡¯ve checked for a pulse.
Erak took a step back. His footstep echoed throughout the corridor. The corridor completely empty of living beings other than himself. Several dead ants littered the floor. One dead wolf.
He breathed shakily, looked at the exit for a split second, then turned around. He scooped up the bloodied spearhead, and began to run ento the dungeon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The spider had one goal, and by proxy, Empress shared it. Only one could survive. It seemed natural, somehow.
The pillars in the ((SANCTUM)) crashed to the floor as the beast spun around. The ants who had clung to the monster dug their mandibles deeper into the armor. It flailed around wildly, knocking the ((CORE)) from its pedestal. The golden crystal clattered to the ground. Empress let out a phantom scream.
Guard infused more strength into her bite as she hung from the spider¡¯s neck area like a Pitbull. The spider only grew more frenzied. Empress didn¡¯t think consider suffocation as a motive, Erak was the only person she knew that had lungs, and she hadn¡¯t realized that yet. The spider wasn¡¯t a regular spider however, and the spiderkin saw spots dance in her eyes. Guard swung around like a strange necktie as the spider kept shaking off the smaller ants and approaching the ((CORE)).
Empress could do nothing but watch. Her ((MANA POOL)) jumped up and she felt Erak running through the hallways, which she took to mean that the wolf was dead but Erak wouldn¡¯t make it to the ((SANCTUM)). She was going to die like she assumed the wolf had. It was a sobering thought, but not one that she wanted. There was nothing she could do, even Guard was barely holding her own. Her ((MANA POOL)) climbed upward slowly as she absorbed the dead. Not that she could use it.
Hopelessness washed over her. It was the first time she had felt truly and utterly useless. She had always been the master of her Domain. Now a creature had come and was going to kill her. Her ((GAZE)) shook and dimmed. She barely watched as the spider and Guard thrashed around. She closed her metaphorical eye and breathed out. Letting herself be enveloped by the darkness. She¡ didn¡¯t want to watch herself die.
¡°Help me.¡± She whispered into the void; her voice quickly being swallowed up. She spoke softly, unsure of who she was begging. She didn¡¯t even realize that she had spoken in first person, the words jumped almost unbidden from whatever passed as her lips. Perhaps it was a remnant of something.
EMPRESS:
A small Dungeon in the Inth mountain range that specializes in the Ento affinity, with a sub affinity to water. All monsters/colonists are Entopathic. Empress has no Mantra, and appears to be unaware of the concept. Empress has not manifested her Blessings and Curses page and appears to be unaware of the concept¡ somehow. This Dungeon has no RETAINERS, although due to her temperament, it is likely that she will soon gain RETAINERS, which would GREATLY INCREASE her chances of later expansion. It is EXTREMELY likely that she will soon gain a RETAINER within the next few days.
Empress blinked at the text box, confusion momentarily overriding her terror. The spider sunk her fangs into the final guard ant. Guard silently seethed in anger, the spider felt her HP continue to tick down steadily, and began to search the room for the ((CORE)).
CONGRATULATIONS!
The ((SYSTEM)) chimed, despite its Silenced status, the text appeared quicker than normal.
ONE OF YOUR MONSTERS HAS FULFILLED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR RETAINERSHIP, WOULD YOU LIKE TO-
¡°YES! Do it!¡± Empress screeched. Her ((GAZE)) grew brighter, and she felt her ((MANA)) begin to envelop Guard.
BONUS CHAPTER!! 50 followers!
Thea¡¯s eyes fell on the golden orb that held the life force of the Dungeon. Her health bar was getting dangerously low, but once she shattered it, the infernal ant around her neck would despawn. where was Quil? He should¡¯ve been here by now. She stalked over to the ((CORE)), climbing over a ruined pillar. The ant detached itself and fell limply on the floor. Thea frowned, had it really given up so easily? She had invaded several dungeons in her life, it wasn¡¯t in their nature. It didn¡¯t matter, it would only take a moment. She had shattered one before, she had gained four levels, but had been plagued by dreams of gently guiding along what felt like a stream of water for weeks afterward.
She shifted into her manform and began to siphon the ((MANA)), and the air around her shuddered. Glancing at the black ant, it seemed to be shuddering too. Strangely, the ant made no move to attack her, had it accepted its fate? The ((CORE)) began to dissolve, but it was going slower than it should, was it that ((MANA)) dense? Thea, not for the first time, wondered why it was called ¡®shattering¡¯ when the crystal just¡ faded. Suddenly shadow fell over her. Without leaving time to think, she shifted back into her beast form, letting the ((CORE)) fall to the ground, and met the assault of the now even more monstrous ant.
Thea¡¯s fangs pushed against the curved mandibles of the creature, holding it at bay. She stared into its two, pupilless eyes, somehow, it had grown, in both size and strength, within only a minute. An empty black husk sat on the floor where it had once been. Now, she was on the defensive, already exhausted and on low health, this¡ this wasn¡¯t not good. where was Quil? Infernal blade when she found him- The ant pulled away from the stalemate, and jabbed lower, at her ¡®neck¡¯.
Thea ducked and used her eight legs to spring upward, trying to land atop the ant so she could let her venom do the work. The ant had grown, but had not lost its agility, it ducked out of the way, standing over the ((CORE)). She hissed, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the hoard broke through her web, she needed to end this now. She charged the ant, but it didn¡¯t move to dodge or even move to meet her attack.
As she grew closer, she felt the venom in her fangs begin to drip, the ant didn¡¯t move. She tackled the it, her fangs poised right above its abdomen, she was about to strike when she felt something sharp and cold in her chest. Thea realized her mistake too late as she tried to pull herself off the ((RETAINER¡¯S)) newly sharpened mandibles. The mouth parts stabbed through the mail on her underbelly and sliced through any amount of her internals as they opened and closed. Thea groaned weakly, gasping for breath as the mandibles nicked one of her lungs.
The ((RETAINER)) pulled away, and Thea¡¯s vision blurred as she fell to the floor, she was barely able to make out the ((RETAINER)) picking up the ((CORE)) and replacing it on a pedestal. Quil? where was Quil? She pulled herself to her feet, not even realizing that she had shifted back to her man form. The gash on her stomach looked fatal, but strangely, it didn¡¯t hurt. She had no trouble standing up and walking toward the doorway. She had to find Quilian. The ant, seemingly knowing that its job was done, made no move to stop her. Her armor felt heavy, much too heavy, she reached up to take off her helmet but her hands were shaking and her arms felt weak. where was he? She needed to find him before¡ Goodness, why did her eyelids feel so heavy?
Thea sunk to the ground, the gash in her stomach had begun to hurt. She would find him; she needed to find him- just a little further¡ The world turned gold.
------------------------
Empress watched as the spider lady¡¯s corpse was absorbed. She felt her ((MANA POOL)) refill after upgrading Guard had drained it. Her tiredness vanished, her ((CORE)) regenerated... partially. It still wasn¡¯t as large as before, and the thin black crack seemed to have grown wider. She stared at it, and suddenly felt as if her ((GAZE)) was being dragged to the floor. Something danced along the edges of her vison, which shouldn¡¯t have been possible because her sight was circular. She wrenched her ((GAZE)) away, and they shadows vanished.
Empress exhaled softly, her frantic mind slowing down. She felt her ((MANA POOL)) surge once more, and it was followed by a feeling of expansion. Her voice felt tight and she gasped slightly. For a moment, she was confused by the ((SYSTEM))¡¯s silence, but then her ((GAZE)) brightened.
¡°Unsilenced.¡± She said,
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE LEVELED UP! EXPAND
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR RETAINER HAS REACHED LEVEL 3, EXPAND
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED YOUR ENEMIES, EXPAND
DUE TO THE THREAT LEVEL BEING UNDER 7, ALL COLONISTS HAVE REVERTED TO THEIR REGULAR ALIGNMENTS.
Pushing the box to the side for a moment, Empress took stock of her casualties, she had lost twenty-three ants in all, most of them were guards, the moss hallway, spawner room, and ((SANCTUM)) had all been damaged, and there was a magical web of some kind blocking the path to the ((SANCTUM)). Erak looked to be working on the last one with his blue fire. Empress nodded, she pinged Runner and Gatherer to bring all the corpses to be absorbed.
She turned back to the text box and pressed ((EXPAND)) on the first message.
+1X SPAWNER NO VALID PLACEMENT OPTION
+400 MANA
STATUS:
LV 3 DUNGEON
Name: Empress
EXP 0/290,042
Size: Small
Gender: Female
Gaze type: Light-based
Affinities: Ento, Water
Class: none
Race: Dungeon
Nodes: Lummi moss LV 2
Spawners: Basic Ant LV 1
Retainers: Guard
Alignment: _____
System message type: Glass based
Communication type: auditory
Spawner orientation: Visual
Traits: Introspective
Notoriety: 0
Fame: 0
Infamy: 0
Empress nodded sourly, ¡°No valid placement option¡± she muttered, and opened the next tab. How annoying.
LV 3 RETAINER ANT
Name: Guard
Gender: Female
Languages: Ant, Systematic
Notoriety: 0
Fame: 0Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Infamy: 0
STR: 12
CON: 8
INT: 9
WIZ: 5
DEX: 3
CHAR: 1.5
HP: 10/10
Ascend chance: 5%
Traits: Dungeon-touched, Guardian
Affinities: Ento
SELL
FORCE LEVEL UP
EVOLVE
GO TO SPAWNER
she opened the final tab.
1X HYBRID WOLF/FALCON BEASTKIN, LEVEL 19, PALADIN, + 100 MANA, NOT ABSORBED.
1X SPIDERKIN WIDOW, LEVEL 21, TANK, + 120 MANA, ABSORBED 10 Pounds: Enchanted gold armor plating, 15 pounds, Onyx chainmail
Empress blinked, her vision instantly drawn to the gold. enchanted? With what? She shook her ((GAZE)). She didn¡¯t have time. She would experiment later, now, she had lost a large chunk of her colony and two swarms. She had gained an absurd amount of ((MANA)) for it, but that had been only two adventurers. How would she survive if more came? It seemed like Erak¡¯s arrival had opened the floodgates. She needed to use the ((MANA)) she had on fortifying her ((DOMAIN)). Erak sprinted into the ((SANCTUM)), a blue light blazing at his side, he seemed shocked as he stood in the ruins. Empress tilted her ((GAZE)), ah right. She opened the ((SYSTEM)), decorative options filled the room, but she ignored all but one.
REPAIR ALL?
She selected the button, and for a fraction of the cost it was to build, the ((SANCTUM)) was restored. Erak made an ¡®Oh¡¯ face and ran his fingers through his tangled hair. The door reformed and the light level in the ((SANCTUM)) lowered. Empress repaired the spawner room but left the moss hallway to the gardeners. Guard stood in the ((CORE)) room, she was twice her previous size, and her mandibles were now silver with serrated points. Her eyes were larger as well, and there was a glimmer of something in her eyes that wasn¡¯t there before.
Empress pinged Guard to bring Erak to the ((SAFEROOM)). Guard looked at her ((GAZE)) snorted and shook her head, pointing her antennae at the now reduced in size ((CORE)). Empress blinked in shock. Unsure of how to respond, she said nothing, instead, she pinged Runner, who was coming up the moss hallway carrying a fallen sister. Runner burst into the room, dropped the dead builder, who was instantly absorbed, and began to circle the elf excitedly. Eventually, Erak began to follow Runner, sprinting after the red ant.
It wasn¡¯t long before the pair arrived in the ((SAFEROOM)), where Doktor and Empress were waiting. Erak noticed her presence and the silver words appeared.
¡°Hello milady, how may I help you?¡± he asked
Empress ((COMMANDED)) Doktor, despite the ((MANA)) cost, and the ant began to drag her feet through the sand, in complex patterns, a smile appeared on Erak¡¯s lips as the words began to take shape.
¡°MUCH DANGER. KNOWLEDGE.¡± It read,
Erak slumped slightly, but smiled. ¡°Of course, there is much to discuss.¡±
He sat on the ground and smoothed out the sand in front of him. He began to draw sharp triangles, and the silver words spoke for him as he drew. ¡°You are around here.¡± He pointed at a spot in the triangles.
¡°The mountains make it hard for anyone to get to you, there are very few paths through Inth.¡± He drew three circles on the left side of the mountain range, and two on the other, ¡°There are, however, several major cities nearby, and people do need to cross the mountains, there is a path, but it isn¡¯t a good path,¡± He drew a dotted line through the mountain range that passed near where he said Empress was. ¡°Mostly because of the frequency of wars, no one wants an army being able to pass through Inth, it¡¯s been used as a natural border since before I was born.¡±
He added detail to the map, a forest between two cities. ¡°This will both help and hurt you, right now, you don¡¯t have very many defenses, you don¡¯t have a boss or any traps, and most of your creatures are focused on production.¡± He drew a river that ran along the base of the mountain range. ¡°But very few people will actually come out here to challenge a young Dungeon without any proper loot.¡±
Empress scoffed, she had moss.
¡°You have probably a year or two before people start planning their trips over the mountains to pass you, more if I don¡¯t report you to the ((READER¡¯S)) guild.¡± He drew in more rivers and minor towns. ¡°So far you seem to have done well, but if you continue to expand without any adventurers or a source of external income, you will end up having to stop or will overextend yourself and starve.¡±
Empress stared at the ground.
¡°You might want to look into defenses, a boss room or higher level monsters¡± He pulled away from the map and nodded to himself before writing names over the major cities, Filadonta, Dunsbarrow. ¡°Traps or puzzles maybe?¡±
Empress nodded, ¡°OK.¡± She said aloud, her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged, as she tried to commit the map to memory.
¡°You could try to be a Trove if you don¡¯t like fighting,¡± Erak offered, he couldn¡¯t get a read on this Dungeon, she didn¡¯t have a clear alignment, she didn¡¯t follow a specific Dungeon structure, he guessed that it was from being cloistered for most of her life, maybe she was aggressive but she focused on production because she didn¡¯t have a good source of ((MANA))? It didn¡¯t make any sense, he couldn¡¯t think straight.
Empress shook her ((GAZE)). She sighed; a boss room seemed like a good idea. The flooded hallway was almost finished, she pinged Builder, who was doing a head count of her crew, the room was going to be a boss room. Builder acknowledged and began preparations.
¡°You have a Retainer now¡I think?¡± Erak said, ¡°You don¡¯t have too much to worry about, so far, I don¡¯t think there is anyone else in the valley. As far as defenses go, you have time, especially with the latest war stopping any chance of trade over the Inth.¡±
¡°War?¡± Empress asked aloud, hoping that the message would be conveyed. ¡°Fight? Conflict? Attack?¡±
Erak didn¡¯t say anything, then he nodded, ¡°Litone is at war¡ often, this is the fourth war in my lifetime. This time it is a war between the Council of Litone, a collection of the more¡ barbaric¡ species, and the RNL, Returning Nobilities of Litone, a newly formed coalition of several small city-state kingdoms that are looking to expand their territories and subsume other kingdoms. The war is almost evenly split across race lines, but that is typically how things go, the animalistic versus the civilized. I believe the conflict started when a Faerie settlement was inhabited by a tribe of nomadic Trolls.¡±
¡°Nomadic,¡± Empress whispered as her ((UNDERSTANDING)) struggled to define the concept. As a stationary being, it was hard for her to fathom that a group of people was able to be constantly on the move.
Erak didn¡¯t write anymore, he had nothing left to say, Empress did not ask any questions. She left the ((SAFEROOM)), leaving Erak to his thoughts. She stopped in the spawner room, nodded to The Nameless One, who was pacing the newly restored walls and accessed the spawner.
LV 2 BASIC ANT SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns weak Ants without any specific classification that embodies the PERCEPTION of the species.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 0
SIZE: 0.2
STR: 5
PWR: 2
INT: 3
DEF: 2
SPD: 3
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: CHALLENGING
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED
ASCEND CHANCE: .002
COOLDOWN: 300
FORCE LEVEL UP
Empress tilted her ((GAZE)) and pressed ¡°Force Level Up¡± Her ((MANA)) instantly drained, she sighed, ignored the text box, and pressed it again, the drain was nearly doubled this time. She leveled the spawner once more, then the price grew too high. She glanced at the three boxes:
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR BASIC ANT SPAWNER HAS LEVELED UP!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR BASIC ANT SPAWNER HAS LEVELED UP!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR BASIC ANT SPAWNER HAS LEVELED UP!
Empress swiped away the new boxes and refreshed the spawner page.
LV 5 BASIC ANT SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns Ants without any specific classification that embodies the PERCEPTION of the species.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 6
SIZE: 0.3
STR: 5
PWR: 2
INT: 3
DEF: 2
SPD: 3
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: CHALLENGING
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED
ASCEND CHANCE: .002
COOLDOWN: 300
FORCE LEVEL UP
After thinking for a moment, she allotted the stat points: Two into INT and DEF, and one each into INT and SPD.
LV 5 BASIC ANT SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns Ants without any specific classification that embodies the PERCEPTION of the species.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 0
SIZE: 0.3
STR: 5
PWR: 4
INT: 4
DEF: 4
SPD: 4
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: CHALLENGING
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED
ASCEND CHANCE: .002
COOLDOWN: 300
FORCE LEVEL UP
Glancing at her ((MANA POOL)), which had only a fifth remaining, she mentally shrugged and appeared in the flooded hallway, she checked the spawner, but, as she thought, the level was too expensive. Empress instead pulled up the room upgrades. It was only a hallway, and there were only two upgrades still available:
CONSTRUCT CHEST?
SUMMON BASIC UNDERGROUND LAKE NODE?
Empress hummed, and summoned the Node, which used the last of the ((MANA)) she had gained from the fight. It was strange how it had seemed to expensive before. It still was, but compared to the ((MANA)) she had gained from only two adventurers... At the bottom of the flooded hallway, a small, golden orb appeared and began to spin around without disturbing the dirt it sat in. Around it, clear slime began to form on the mud, turning it more into muck. Curious, Empress zoomed in and saw strange featureless creatures without brains, her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged, but it only gave her a name, ¡®Amoeba¡¯, other than the amoebas, thin snaking roots began to stretch out through the water, they grew small blubs that blossomed as she watched. Purple flowers began to dot the bottom of the swamp, her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged once more and she was given another name, ¡®Witch¡¯s Diamond¡¯, lastly, tiny blind fish that where barely larger than a mosquito began to spawn, they were called ¡®Cave Guppies.¡¯
Empress pulled away from the water, her curiosity sated for now. Pinging Gatherer to meet her at the entrance hallway, she floated lazily through her ((DOMAIN)). She felt calm, filled with a sense of satisfaction that only a Dungeon can know from the feeling of proper expenditures. As she drifted through the ((SAFEROOM)), she spied Erak cleaning a sharp metal object, some weapon she was unfamiliar with. She entered the Entrance hallway, Gatherer was waiting at attention, Empress glanced at the carcass of the wolf monster, and pinged Runner to bring it to the ((SANCTUM)) for absorption, and to give its clothing to Erak.
¡°Gatherer, recommence expeditions. She also wants the Swarm to go out when it grows.¡± Empress said, there was no point in fearing those who would become her prey.
Gatherer stood a little straighter and nodded vigorously. She stood around for a moment before scuttling off, excited to return to her purpose. Empress nodded, and then for a long moment she looked out at the white wall that blocked her from the rest of the world. She could only guess the time of day from the light that streamed in. She could expand into the mountainside however she wanted, but not out. How was she supposed to claim that land? It bothered her. Why couldn¡¯t she? Gatherer knew her purpose, what was hers? Why did she exist? What was she made of? She slowly pulled away from the light, her mind was full of ideas, but to execute them, she needed ((MANA)).
Empress shook her ((GAZE)) to clear it. She was equally excited and terrified of the adventurers that would eventually delve into her ((DOMAIN)). She thought back to the chest option in the flooded hallway, and Erak¡¯s words about her lackluster loot table came to mind. She needed to attract Bipeds to her ((DOMAIN)), not hide from them and if she was going to be a Siren, she was going to need a song.
French Revolution with Extra steps
Erak washed the spearhead in the ((SAFE_ROOM)) pond. His fingers carefully moved along the edge so he didn¡¯t cut himself. He could barely see as the blood spread out into the pond, branching out like the branches of a tree before vanishing into whatever enchantment the Dungeon had placed on the water. He forced himself to think about whether the impurities were being absorbed or transformed into water, and not¡ whatever had happened. He didn¡¯t know how many times he had drilled it into ((APPRENTICE READERS)). The same result didn¡¯t necessarily mean the same causation.
A pitfall trap was something that most Dungeons made at some point, it was easy enough to avoid, and more likely to be used as a deterrent than an actual threat. Adventurers and ((DELVERS)) learned how to avoid them. ((READERS)) had to learn how to identify them.
How a trap was constructed was usually the first sign of the personality of a Dungeon. Were there spikes? Was it plainly constructed or in theme with the area around it? Were there any hints about the location of the trap in the general area? Was it powered magically or did it need to be reset manually?
It was rare that a Dungeon didn¡¯t have any traps. He could only think of one off the top of his head, and Exchange wasn¡¯t exactly a normal Dungeon. Stunted Dungeons tended to rely more on traps than average, they didn¡¯t cost anything to maintain, unlike monsters. Stunted Dungeons also tended to be shattered within a few months of their discovery, even if the ((READER¡¯S)) guild tried to shelter them.
Stunted Dungeons who survived their first encounter tended to go into shock. Most Dungeons panic after their ((SANCTUM)) gets invaded for the first time, on one occasion, he and Allucio had been forced to camp outside a Dungeon for a week and ward off anyone trying to enter because the Dungeon hadn¡¯t reset himself.
His hostess had responded to her near death remarkably well. A little too well, if Erak was being honest with himself. The Dungeon hadn¡¯t reacted to him entering her ((SANCTUM)) with panic. Her aura had felt calm, maybe a little embarrassed. She reset without problems and then began to question him about her circumstances. Calm, professional almost. Was the Dungeon older than he had assumed? Was there a secret entrance to the lower floors? Was the ((SANCTUM)) even her real ((SANCTUM))? Erak shook his head. What he had previously accepted as minor anomalies due to her location, now seemed¡ suspicious. It was a ridiculous thought, Dungeons were notoriously straightforward.
A Dungeon didn¡¯t pretend to be another type of Dungeon. Was she forging a new alignment then? He dismissed the thought. While Dungeon¡¯s were more flexible in their ¡®alignments¡¯ there hadn¡¯t been a forging since Exchange, nearly four hundred years ago now, and Monolith, one of the eldest Dungeons, had only managed his seven hundred years ago.
Erak sighed loudly, clutching the spearhead a little too tightly. More likely, he had just jumped to conclusions and overlooked a simple answer. He watched the cloudy water turn clear again in the dim light. With a tug on his ((MANA)), he caused the low torches to flare back up again. A blue glow bathed the black sand. He had come out here because of this Dungeon, and he had barely done anything more than a rudimentary pass of the rooms.
The first step was identifying the Dungeon. He rubbed his eyes before drawing a Dungeon alignment grid in the sand.
Sanctuary Catacomb Labyrinth Bastion
Hearth Monolith Trove Exchange
Mundane Ravine Chamber Fortification The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Cabin Coliseum
Barrow
He instantly crossed out the Labyrinth column. The Dungeon was trapless and bossless. He crossed out Mundane and Cabin next. Despite having the healing ability, she was more combative than either of those would allow. Barrow was the next most obvious choice, she had driven away Erann, not tried to draw him in further. He crossed out Monolith, only because he was sure she wasn¡¯t a ((HIVE MIND)) and therefore didn¡¯t meet the prerequisite of only having one monster. Ravine was another one that could go easily, the Dungeon wasn¡¯t open-air. Exchange was also easily removed from the list, she had shown no interest in economic matters.
That only left, Sanctuary, Hearth, Catacomb, Bastion, and Fortification.
If the Dungeon had merely disabled the Spiderkin instead of killing her, then Erak would¡¯ve said she was a Sanctuary. She was possibly a Hearth, betting on the healing ants, but other than some minor decoration she showed no interest in the nearly frivolous theming Hearth¡¯s almost always reveled in. Catacomb¡ well, she certainly acted like a Catacomb during the attack, but not before it. A Catacomb would¡¯ve killed both he and Erann on sight when they tumbled into her Domain. She had also sent some of her monsters on an expedition, which, although not unheard of, was something a Catacomb wouldn¡¯t do.
Bastion was tricky. He was hesitant to claim that she was one, but the pure lack of fortifications around her ((SANCTUM)) meant that it was the only choice left. And, as the ¡®original¡¯ alignment for Dungeons, it did tend to be the most common of the base four. The Dungeon had to be a Bastion. It was the only option. Still.
Still.
Bastions didn¡¯t heal. Bastions didn¡¯t send out expeditions. Bastions weren¡¯t subterranean.
¡°Goodness eternal,¡± Erak muttered aloud, rubbing his temples.
His hostess was a Bastion who had picked up some odd behaviors from being isolated. That was what made sense. That was the only option. Bastions didn¡¯t keep crippled monsters, that was Sanctuary behavior. Neither Bastions nor Sanctuarys responded well to being attacked the first time, that was Catacomb behavior.
Another group of reddish ants ran by¡ªmore than the usual three, but he didn¡¯t count them. Perhaps it was an expedition?
Could she have a mixed alignment? Luna Elves only had three possible alignments, but Erak knew that Allucio was marked as Chaotic Good. The problem was, as far as Erak knew, Dungeons didn¡¯t mix alignments. Dungeon alignments were¡ odd. More an indicator of personality than morality. Perhaps because Dungeons were held to different moral standards.
He didn¡¯t know of any Dungeons with mixed alignments, but who was to say there wasn¡¯t one? He sure as the Inferno wasn¡¯t. Thirty years as a ((READER)) and he still managed to struggle with the easiest part of Dungeon Identification.
He heard the skittering of ants behind him and nearly managed to ignore it until one of them dropped a heap of bloodstained clothing into his lap. Erak froze. The red ant, the large one, chittered at him and sped off. There was the sound of shuffling, and something wet being dragged through the sand.
He didn¡¯t want to look, but he couldn¡¯t seem to stop himself from slowly turning around.
A train of- maybe twenty? red ants were marching in perfect sync, feathers, chunks of fur and a trail of blood followed them, something that the larger ant seemed frustrated. A pair of ants dragged the Wolfkin¡¯s headless and limbless torso toward the exit. They probably could¡¯ve lifted it, given more ants, but it appeared the others were just as busy.
The ant in the front of the pack held his arm awkwardly in its mandibles, it kept shifting it, causing the wrist to flap around limply. The ant was followed by the ones holding his legs, which had been snapped into manageable sections around the knee. The next ant held the head. Carrying it by the back of the spear Erak had driven into the wolf¡¯s eye. The stick was heavier on one end and swung around like some kind of deranged flag.
The head¡¯s revolution changed, and suddenly it was pointing directly at Erak. The intact eye stared at him in glassed-over fear.
The elf wrenched his gaze away, shoving the clothes off his lap, not caring that it fell directly into the pond. Then he stood up. The blood from the shirt seemed to be pulled away from it as the water turned murky, then clear. The ants paused their macabre parade, and the large ant clicked its mandibles in Erak¡¯s direction. One of the healer ants chirped from the corner of the room, and the group set off once more.
Erak became aware that his hands were shaking. He gripped the spearhead tighter, refusing to turn around until he heard the shuffling of far too many small feet on sand fade away. Then he slowly looked back at the path caused by the torso being dragged through the sand. He felt the dungeon¡¯s eye turn to him, and his breathing became ragged.
Dungeons had no reason to desecrate corpses. Dungeons could absorb a dead creature the moment its soul left its body. Why weren¡¯t things adding up? What was he missing? Why did he feel so¡ enraged when the Dungeon was attacked?
He opened and closed his free hand listlessly. What, in the name of the Eternal Goodness, was going on?
NEW SIDE QUEST:
Discover the secrets of the Dungeon you have taken up residence in.
Erak flinched as, for only the second time in his existence, the ((SYSTEM)) interacted with him directly.
The other twin
Prince Durn sat on the raised cushion behind a folding desk littered with papers written in the ugly gnomish tongue; he hated the language. It lacked seven of the ogre letters and was generally unusable. Durn had no idea how it had become the common language of Litone. His tent was dim and smoky, even with the flaps raised to let in fresh air; his desk was of troll make, and it didn¡¯t have proper space for his lower two arms. All and all, it put him in a foul mood. What put him in an even fouler mood, however, was the Elf that sat across from him, his silver skin reflecting the smoky candlelight and his short hair exposing his long-pointed ears; he sat on his shins, without any signs of discomfort.
The worst part of the Elf¡¯s visit, however, was the infant he held in his arms. The girl¡ªthe Orc¡ªhad been a curse on the noble Ogre race since they had destroyed her unsparing kingdom and his far too many greats to mention grandfather and killed her ((WITCH)) of a mother. Gawain should¡¯ve thrown her into the fire the moment that she was born.
He had been flirting with death long before he died or, perhaps, he was trying to make Death pay an exorbitant dowry. That didn¡¯t matter now, as Durn was well on his way to the kingship. No sane ogre would truly believe that the reincarnated whelp in the elf¡¯s arms had any true claim to the throne. Once Durn took Filadonta, he would be welcomed home with open arms and a crown on his brow.
Aren Eithidien and archaic traditions were the only things standing in his way. What had Gawain been thinking? Had the blood loss driven him mad? Declaring an elf regent. Annoyingly, said Elf was currently speaking to him, and had the right to do so.
¡°Where was the rest of the army exactly, Durn?¡± Aren asked.
¡°Ah. Well.¡± Durn began, ¡°The horses were struggling in the mud, the wagons stalled, our pace was significantly slower than anticipated, the princess¡¯s contingent was on foot, and one thing led to another¡¡±
Aren fixed him with an icy look that Alison copied expertly. ¡°I see, and how was it that none of the front runners noticed a dungeon directly in the center of the only viable path through the Inth?¡±
¡°Well.¡± Durn said again, wringing his hands, ¡°We haven¡¯t been able to send out as many scouts since the rains made the terrain dangerous to travel alone¡ It might¡¯ve broken the surface since then¡ and well, superstition.¡±
Aren stared at him pensively. Internally, Durn was seething. Every. Infernal. The thrice-cursed elf he¡¯d met had been like this¡ªself-righteous, calculating, and indifferent. Perhaps if they were drunk, they would be less of a pain to be around. Durn didn¡¯t notice that Aren was sweating so heavily that his silver skin glittered in the candlelight.
Durn forced out a good-natured chuckle. ¡°Ah, well, of course you would not be aware, my good sir. Once my people won a great battle in the valley, razing a sinful city filled with fortunetellers and soothsayers, I suppose it would be like what¡ what was it, Solenmore? Solmoor? Yes, Solmoor, I think, would be to the Elves. Of course, the Ogre kind would not stand for such an offense against The One and the ((SYSTEM)) to stand, so survivors were hunted down and dealt with.¡±
Aren¡¯s eyes flickered between two indecipherable emotions as Alice let out a soft cry of protest. ¡°And the superstition?¡±
¡°Well, supposedly the Queen, or whatever they called her, I don¡¯t think it was Queen, of this city was a ((WITCH))-¡°
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Alice interrupted Durn by crying. Aren shifted her to his other arm and gently shushed her. She fussed for a moment before quieting back down. Durn cleared his throat.
¡°As I was saying this¡ Queen was powerful enough to inflict a species-wide ((CURSE)) on the ogre people.¡± Durn said
Aren couldn¡¯t hide his expression of shock. ¡°Pardon me?¡±
¡°Yes, I know.¡± Durn said, ¡°They say that she made a bargain with the Second or the Fey.¡±
Alice fussed, and Aren comforted her.
¡°It''s not a complicated ((CURSE)); an Orcish child is born to an Ogre family at the moment of death as the previous one. It alternates, male and female; all the males are named Theodore, and the females are named Alison. Some hold beliefs that passing through the valley will bring the curse upon their bloodline, and since neither child has survived past the age of ten¡¡±
Aren¡¯s jaw clenched ever so slightly. ¡°I see, and how would this cause the princess to be left completely undefended except for two beastkin and myself, forced to face off against a probable ((CATACOMB)), half-starved and desperate for a kill?¡±
¡°Ah well¡¡± Durn said once again, a cruel smile that he failed to hide on his lips. ¡°It appears that the majority of the soldiers assigned to the royal contingent decided that trespassing on that specific ruin with one of the ((CURSE)) children in hand would be a very bad idea indeed and have fled.¡±
¡It appears.¡± Aren said after a moment. ¡°That I agree with them.¡±
¡°You¡ do?¡± Durn said, subtly tapping the fingers on this third hand against his leg.
¡°Yes, the valley is completely unfit for the transportation of a large force. Vegetation is thick there; there was evidence of flash floods, and that isn¡¯t even mentioning the dungeon.¡± Aren said,
¡°The Dungeon isn¡¯t a threat.¡± Durn promised. ¡°We can dispatch a few soldiers with some dungeon experience and have them take it out.¡±
¡°I doubt that.¡± Aren said, but Durn ignored him and continued on.
¡°Besides, to avoid the valley would be to go on a much more indirect path; it would extend travel time by a week or more, and we don¡¯t have enough food to spare, and a week longer could lose us the siege we are supposed to be reinforcing.¡± Durn said,
¡°The Dwarves could hole up under Filadonta for a century, Durn.¡± Aren said,
Internally, Durn was fuming that the Elf dared to address him so familiarly, but outwardly he forced a smile. ¡°There is only so much air to breathe in a cave.¡±
¡°The Dwarves have dungeons as well; they can refresh the air.¡± Aren said, ¡°None of that will matter if our forces are crippled by a dungeon.¡±
¡°Dungeons don¡¯t attack armies, Eithidien.¡± Durn laughed.
Aren frowned, but then his voice hardened. ¡°It felt strange; when I was inside it, it felt like I was a child caught sneaking into a place I wasn¡¯t supposed to be. It''s mind felt wrong. I¡¯ve been having strange dreams about fire and glowing lights. The army should not provoke whatever that thing pretending to be a dungeon is.¡±
¡°I cannot in good conscience allow the war to be jeopardized because you had a bad feeling, Aren.¡± Durn said with mock compassion,
¡°I may have dropped my ((READER)) class, but I still have its ((SKILLS)). Durn, something is wrong about that place. It felt too old.¡± Aren said,
¡°I¡¯m afraid there is nothing I can do,¡± Durn said. ¡°You could tell the army that you want them to possibly starve on the way to Filadonta to avoid a newborn dungeon yourself, but I fear for my head if I was to do such a thing¡ªyou know, even royalty doesn¡¯t appear safe these days.¡±
Aren clenched his jaw, and Alice tugged on his sleeve; he looked down at her. ¡°Very well. I must take my leave.¡± He said so before standing up and sweeping his way out of the tent.
Durn growled once he was sure that Aren couldn¡¯t hear him. He blew out the candles in front of him and stood up slowly, his joints creaking in a way that they shouldn¡¯t for his age. He closed the flaps of the tent and groaned before laying down on cot, letting his legs and arms finally uncramp. His two left arms fell over the side of the bed. After a moment, he felt something wrap around the wrist of his upper arm.
The ogre stiffened before he realized what it was. He pushed himself back up and lifted his arm to eye level. A wooden cobra made of glossy oak was wrapped around his arm. It was small, barely a foot in length, and it was carved like a children¡¯s toy, with joints in the tail so that it could slither in an ¡®¡¯ S¡¯-like pattern. It had two jade eyes that stared at him as its jointed mouth hung open.
¡°I do not like the sound of another dungeon, princeling.¡± The cobra said,
¡°Barely an infant, I had the valley scouted out two weeks ago; it can¡¯t be older than that.¡± Durn said,
¡°I do not like this.¡± The cobra hissed, its mouth flapping open and closed in a mockery of words as its carved tongue stayed absolutely still. ¡°My liege does not like this.¡±
¡°It isn¡¯t anything to worry about,¡± Durn said. ¡°Aren was just trying to delay the army, probably to curry favor with the RNL.¡±
¡°Kill them.¡± The cobra said, ¡°If it is nothing to worry about, then kill them.¡±
¡°I was already planning on it, m¡¯lord.¡± Durn said,
¡°You¡¯re worthless at planning, Durn.¡± The cobra said, ¡°But as long as you keep your end of the bargain, you will be a worthless king as well.¡±
The snake went inert, and Durn sighed in relief; the ((SPEAKER)) must¡¯ve moved his consciousness to another cobra. He wasn¡¯t sure how many of them there were in total, even just in his camp, but it was a small price to pay for the blessing of Exchange.
Invasion
Empress was slowly looping around her ((CORE)) as she waited for the beastkin to be brought in. She had already decided to spend the ((MANA)) on the mosquito spawner. Although the swarm wasn¡¯t as versatile as her ants, it most likely had much higher offensive capabilities. It appeared that she would need them. Her colony wasn¡¯t as powerful as she had hoped. It appeared that beyond the white void was a world filled with her enemies.
She was lucky to have taken Erak, who knows when another, friendly Biped would¡¯ve appeared. If there was a war, it would probably be a bad thing for him to leave. If other elves attacked him, and not elves attacked him, then where was his colony? Did he not have one?
Perhaps it had gotten over crowded, and they had pushed out the drones. Still, Empress thought it was strange to push out what was so obviously a leader caste. Well, it was unorthodox, but her colony already had two kinds of colonists, why not three?
She doubted that the third spawner would give her an option for another type of ant, so it may eventually be four.
The thought of the third spawner made Empress stop humming. How stupid. She had a maximum of five rooms, and had received a spawner each level, and two of her rooms couldn¡¯t hold a spawner. Unless she could upgrade her room cap, her next room would be the last place she could put a spawner, and that was going to be a boss room! The chances where she couldn¡¯t even place it there.
While she was mulling over her discontent with the first real plateau in her development, a runner burst through the doors. The twin doors slammed against the walls behind them as the runner collapsed in front of the ((CORE)) pedestal. The pores that brought in oxygen visibly dilated on her sides. A drawstring bag was twisted up in her mandibles. She waved her antennae weakly at Guard, who gave her a complex sequence of concerned and strict pheromones.
Empress didn¡¯t bother to identify them, because she was too busy staring at the bag. Her ((CORE)) pulsed in indignation. Her ((GAZE)) dimmed. Her instincts were telling her that another dungeon was inside that bag. Her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged that that was impossible. Empress absorbed the bag, causing seven wooden disks the size of an ant¡¯s eye to spill out onto the floor.
Instantly Guard reared back from them, hissing, as she rose to her full height, now standing over the ((CORE)) pedestal instead of curled around it. The runner crawled weakly away, while the current shift of guards on the ceiling of the ((SANCTUM)) scurried down to the floor and circled the threat.
Empress froze. She stared at the coins, fairly certain that the image of the unknown animal on it was staring back at her. It was foreign in a way that nothing before it had been. When the other elf and Erak had come, she was surprised. When the spider and wolf attacked, she was furious. But both of those were tempered by the fact that people were meant to enter her domain. If they never did, she would stagnate.
This thing was never meant to find its way into her home. She tried to absorb the coins, but found that they resisted. It fought against her the way a living being did. Empress felt fear bubble up inside her. She activated ((MANA MANIPULATION)) and ((MANA INFUSION)), then focused on the ambient ((MANA)) in the room, the world shifted into different shades of gold. The ((SANCTUM)) was filled with Empress.
The coins sitting on the ground were not.
A tightly knit grid of green enveloped the seven wooden circles, condensing in the eye sockets of the creature engraved on the coins. Empress pushed herself into the wood. Green flared against gold, thin tendrils lashed out from the coins. They pulled pieces of her in from the air and twisted them up in their web of green.
Empress hissed. She pulled the ((MANA)) away from the coins, they pulled back. She hissed again and forced the dead space to appear. The green tendrils lashed out farther, but she pulled her dome of nothing back further then they could reach. The coins didn¡¯t wither as she had hoped, instead they seemed to be slowly filling the dead space with green. The tightly woven threads came partly undone as each of the seven tried to repair the imbalance.
She gathered up her ((MANA)) into a solid point, sharp as a needle, and drove it into the eye of the creature. The emerald lattices shattered and a small box appeared in the corner of her vison.
INVADER DESTROYED 1/7
She gained no ((MANA)) for killing the coin. She gathered six more needles, ignoring the feeling of strain on her ((CORE)) and pierced the eyes of the remaining coins. Her ((GAZE)) blurred with pain and she lost her grip on the ((MANA)).
It took what felt like an eternity before she was able to pull her scattered mind back together enough to see. She was greeted with several messages from the ((SYSTEM)).
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REPELLED AN INVASION FROM AN UNKNOWN FORCE.
YOUR MANA MANIPULATION HAS LEVELED UP!
YOUR MANA INFUSION HAS LEVELED UP!
YOU HAVE GAINED THE SKILL MANA SIGHT!
YOU HAVE GAINED THE SKILL MANA PROJECTILE
YOUR SKILLS HAVE BEEN COMBINED INTO MANA CONTROL LV 2
MANA CONTROL LEVEL 2 RANK 1
You are able to command the mana around you to an extent.
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DUE TO PUSHING YOURSELF BEYOND YOUR LIMITS AND FACING DOWN A FOE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE POWERFUL THAN YOURSELF, YOU HAVE GAINED THE UNDERDOG TITLE.
SINCE YOU HAVE GAINED A TITLE, YOUR STATUS HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE THEM, (VIEW TITLES?)
Empress blinked. Her ((CORE)) ached. She pushed some of the boxes out of the way and looked at it. Nothing seemed outwardly wrong, unless, maybe had the crack in the center gotten a little larger? She couldn¡¯t tell. She groaned a little before absorbing the husks of the coins.
Guard, the runner and the guards in the room all relaxed. The guards climbed back to their posts and Guard curled back around the pedestal. The runner had recovered enough to get to her feet. Empress spent a moment to memorize her pheromone, then sent her on her way with a slight mental push.
Then she turned back to the messages, dismissed most of them with a thought, and opened her ((STATUS)). Sure enough:
STATUS:
LV 3 DUNGEON
Name: Empress
EXP 23/290,042
Size: Small
Gender: Female
Gaze type: Light-based
Affinities: Ento, Water
Class: none
Race: Dungeon
Nodes: Lummi moss LV 5
Spawners: Basic Ant LV 5, Mana syphon mosquito LV 1
Retainers: Guard
Alignment: _____
System message type: Glass based
Communication type: auditory
Spawner orientation: Visual
Traits: Introspective (Expand?)
Titles: Underdog (Expand?)
Notoriety: 1
Fame: 0
Infamy: 1
Kills: 1
She expanded her titles without a word.
Titles:
A verbal or written mark of blessing or curse that grants or takes power from its holder.
Current titles:
Underdog (I) (COMMON) (ALL): You have faced down a being sufficiently more powerful than yourself and lived to tell the tale, because of this you gain +1 to all attributes during combat with a being 10+ levels above you.
True Heiress (ROYAL) (HEREDITARY): You are the first in line for the throne. This title can be lost if it is granted to another in your kingdom. This title will be replaced with the culturally correct Sovereign title when you ascend to the throne. Your legitimate offspring will gain the Royal title. Your illegitimate offspring will gain the Bastard title and Royal Blood trait. Any creatures produced by you indirectly will gain Noble traits.
Nearly Noble: (ADOPTION) You have been officially adopted into a family ranking noble or higher. You can now gain and pass on noble and hereditary traits.
Almost Royal: (ADOPTION) You have been officially adopted into a family ranking royal or higher. You can now gain and pass on royal and hereditary traits.
Blessed: (COMMON) (ALL) There are at least three blessings upon you.
Cursed: (UNCOMMON) (ALL) There are at least three curses upon you.
Child of Bastion: (DUNGEON) You are descended from Bastion.
9/16: (SYSTEM) (UNIQUE) You are beloved by the System component 9/16
Entitled: (COMMON) (ALL) You have at least five titles.
Loyal Accomplice: (FAERIE) (UNCOMMON) Someone has killed for your sake without strictly having to do so.
COLONIST TITLES:
Royal Guard: (ROYAL) You are charged with the direct protection of your Royalty. +3 to defense when taking a fatal blow for your charge.
Unnamed: (MONSTER) You have no name.
Named: (MONSTER) You have been named
Renamed: (MONSTER) you have had more than one name in your lifetime.
Echo: (MONSTER) you have been forged from a soul echo.
Empress¡¯s ((GAZE)) spun as she skimmed the list of titles. Her ((CORE)) still ached, and she barely remembered to be offended at being called ¡®almost royal¡¯ before swiping the titles away without truly committing the knowledge to memory. Runner and her squad brought in the pieces of the wolf beastkin for absorption. Empress finally relaxed as the fresh ((MANA)) from the corpse eased the pain in her ((CORE))¡ somewhat.
She paused for a moment, before floating limply toward the flooded hallway to upgrade the swarm. Propelled by the need to do¡ something. She could¡¯ve simply appeared there, but Empress was worried that if she turned off her ((GAZE)) the darkness swimming at the edges of her vison wouldn¡¯t let her turn it back on.
9/16 allowed himself to feel annoyed for o.5 seconds before deleting the ((9/16)) title from Empress¡¯s ((MENU)). It really shouldn¡¯t even exist, but he wanted to see her reaction. Which, appeared to be nothing. He glanced at the equally forgotten ((TRUE HEIRESS)) title. Well, he couldn¡¯t exactly fault her. Poor dear. It would all be over soon.
He glanced at the elf, Erak, crouching over the half flooded hallway from his window in the quest boxes. He wondered how much further he could push it, maybe just one more side quest? He would want to save it for later, though. If he did anything too quickly 3/16 would take notice, and ruin all of his fun.
Really, if everyone wasn¡¯t preparing for the world event, he would¡¯ve gotten reprimanded ages ago for giving a newborn dungeon a skill like ((UNDERSTANDING)). Oh well. A promise is a promise. 9/16¡¯s attention was suddenly caught by a young dryad being coerced into adultery by a significantly older dryad.
It was technically 11/16¡¯s domain, but 11/16 was currently trying to set up the rift gate in Ladora, and would totally miss this one. 9/16 snickered and flicked a message their way.
WARNING: CONTINUING PAST THIS POINT WILL RESULT IN BANISHMENT.
The elder dryad stiffened and began to look around wildly, while the younger began to panic. 9/16 stuck out his tongue. He didn¡¯t understand how 11/16 could work in reproduction, it was disgusting. He had to pass out red titles and classes like they were candy. Bah. Why couldn¡¯t everything just use spores and spawners like normal, reasonable beings did?
Breaking Point
The dull throbbing in her ((CORE)) had begun to fade by the time she slowly ambled over to the store room. She floated in between the rushing hallway of ants running back and forth from the construction site. The buzzing cleared her head, and somehow, by the time that she slipped out of the congested hall and into the open space of the store room, somehow, she felt a little better.
Empress knew that something was wrong. The ever-growing wound in the heart of her being was proof enough of that, but she would heal. She had to heal. Crystals grew, didn¡¯t they? She had grown, at least. Would growth be enough to knit broken lattices together? Or did she need to grow large enough that the damage could be removed like a tumor?
She didn¡¯t know. She couldn¡¯t do anything, and the overwhelming feeling of helplessness was completely intolerable. So, Empress did her best to ignore the dulling pain, and ignore the dancing wisps at the edges of her circular vison. She most certainly did not feel as if her ((MANA)) was being sucked into the fracture. No. All Empress needed to do was stop overexerting herself. If Litone was at war, then surely, no more adventurers would come looking for a young dungeon. Erak said that she had a year or two. A year was an impossibly long time. It had to be enough.
She was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of a soft cough. Empress blinked a few times, and realized that Erak had been standing in the store room. The sliver elf was standing at the bank of the flooded hallway, crouched down to stare at the water as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, his free hand held a blue torch. For a moment, Empress tried to imagine how Erak saw the store room.
She wondered if he could see the small divots in the walls and ceilings from the ants¡¯ mandibles, or if he could see the wriggling of the mosquito larvae before they sprung to life. It was probably dark, since he had brought his fire. Empress wondered if the elf could tell Builder apart from her crew as they worked tirelessly above him, or if the ceiling just looked as if it was moving.
She moved her ((GAZE)) beside him and watched as his expression shifted slowly, he placed the torch carefully on the ground before pushing up his sleeve- Empress noticed that he hadn¡¯t changed into the Beastkin¡¯s clothing- and plunged his arm into the water.
She saw how his face contorted into a grimace for a few seconds before relaxing as he adjusted to the temperature of the water, she watched as he plucked a single flower of Witches Blossom.
Node harvested +1 Mana
He shook off his wet arm before scrambling for the torch with his dry hand. The fire had gone dim, and Empress saw him push a bit of ((MANA)) into the torch, causing the fire to flare back up. It was really, such a small amount of ((MANA)), but she saw how much Erak¡¯s ((MANA POOL)) went down, and that made her ((GAZE)) dim.
She felt her own recently replenished ((MANA)), then glanced at Erak¡¯s with a soft hum. She tried to push some of the ambient ((MANA)) toward Erak, it responded reluctantly to her commands. Empress hummed again, before remembering to activate her ((MANA CONTROL)) skill. She only had a moment to marvel at how easy it was to hold it in her mental grasp before hot pain wracked her ((CORE)). Empress cried out, and her ((GAZE)) thumped to the floor, a barely lit coal of light. Erak flinched and dropped the flower. She saw glimpses of frantic sliver words that she couldn¡¯t quite make out, as she watched the blossom fall back onto the miniature lake and sink into the swampy miasma.
Dancing shadows obscured her vison, and a soft mumble turned into audible speech.
¡°Jaa! Lizzie!¡± Hanu Jon,
¡°Jon? Ka es du jingsai per?¡± Hanu Lizzie
¡°Glau Namaedag fu du, Lizzie.¡± Hanu Jon
¡°Oh. Danke...¡± Hanu Lizzie
¡°Akk, Nil. Um... Glaudagst.¡± Hanu Jon
WARNING:
YOU HAVE TAKEN SIGNIFICANT-
¡°¡A-Au Lizzie?¡± Hanu Jon.
¡°Akk?¡± Hanu Lizzie.
¡°Un dua du.¡± Hanu Jon, ¡°Glaudagst!¡±
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
¡°Ka? Jon!¡± Hanu Lizzie
WARING:
PROCEEDING PAST THIS POINT WILL RESULT IN-
¡°JON! VISLOVA!¡± Hanu Lizzie
[] |> E /\/ Y [] \/ R E Y E $ E /\/\ |> R E $$ .
¡°L-Lizzie?¡± Hanu Jon
/\/ [] \/\/
Empress¡¯s ((GAZE)) whirred back to life of its own volition, catapulting her back into the storeroom, and away from the ever-growing cacophony of voices. She was instantly greeted by a flashing wall of silver text.
DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP PLEASE WAKE UP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP¡
Empress realized that she was in the ((SANCTUM))¡ and that Erak was too. Guard was no longer curled around her pedestal but instead blocked the entryway. It was only the three of them in the ((SANCTUM)), the guards on the ceiling were missing, which gave Empress a strange feeling of nakedness.
Erak stood in front of her ((CORE)), ((MANA)) leaking out of his pours as if he were casting a very inefficient spell over and over. Empress blinked. Because that was exactly what he was doing. The silver text that he normally produced almost effortlessly was being oversaturated and swelled until it looked ready to burst. The ambient ((MANA)) in the ((SANCTUM)) was higher than normal, and, for some reason, it caused the whispers to grow fainter.
¡°¡¡± She tried to speak, but her voice didn¡¯t seem to work. She could see Erak¡¯s small ((MANA POOL)) bottoming out, but he didn¡¯t stop his useless spell. Her mind felt hazy, and the ((SANCTUM)) felt far away. She clumsily reached out to him with a tendril of thought, and, without particularly meaning to, caused a wave of unrefined ((MANA)) to crash down upon him.
The elf instantly collapsed. Empress¡¯s ((GAZE)) blinked out of existence.
¡°You can¡¯t be serious¡ Erann¡¯d?¡± I-him-wE asked.
¡°I¡¡± Erann said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± His voice was soft, and it waved slightly ¡°They- They didn¡¯t mean for- for this to happen.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t mean for this to happen? Didn¡¯t mean for what- Erann where are my children?!¡± The Man. The Vessel. The thing. Me. Said. Anguish. I knew the answer.
Erann¡¯s hands were shaking, his voice came out distorted. She didn¡¯t know the words. He did. He¡¯d heard them. ¡°Vali is- Vali is gone. Nafri-¡±
A Coyote¡¯s howl pierced the night. The moons looked upon the Tundra with disgust. Erann turned. So did their brothers. Practically strangers. Compared to Erann¡¯d. We saw the coyote. A viper dropped at its paws. We saw its eyes.
We Knew.
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BOUND ERAK EITHIDIEN TO YOUR DUNGEON.
LEVEL OF RESISTANCE: 0
RANK GIVEN: SPEAKER (automatically assigned)
The coyote took its prey and ran. I watched him go as my home smoldered behind me. Ashes the shape of a giantess laying in the melted husk of our bed. We would not be allowed to mourn. They were not true heirs.
Shadows danced in Empress¡¯s vison, and she felt as if she was falling. For a moment, she thought she smelt smoke.
¡°Empress?¡± A male voice whispered, ¡°That is your name, isn¡¯t it? Empress, wake up.¡±
She flinched, and her ((GAZE)) flickered back to life.
¡°You need to stay awake, can you hear me?¡±
Empress looked around for the source of the voice. Only to find Erak staring directly at her. He took a half step forward.
¡°You can¡¯t order her around.¡± Empress said, woozily before her ((GAZE)) dimmed and dropped several feet. ¡°She is¡above¡¡±
¡°Empress, you need to tell me what happened.¡± Erak said patiently defiant.
¡°Um.¡± Empress said, blearily deciding to listen to him, at least until she figured out how she could understand him now. ¡°She is hurt.¡±
¡°How did you get hurt?¡± Erak said, taking another step toward her ((GAZE)).
¡°She¡¡± Empress hesitated. ¡°She repelled the invasion.¡±
¡°The crack in your ((CORE)) was there before the beastkin attacked, how did that happen Empress?¡± Erak said,
Empress wondered why he kept repeating her name. ¡°She¡ isn¡¯t sure. Something about the spawner she thinks.¡±
¡°¡Okay.¡± Erak said, suddenly stepping away from her and rubbing his eyes ¡°Okay, its alright. We can fix this.¡±
¡°Fix what?¡± she asked.
Erak opened his mouth, then shut it, ¡°Its not important, Empress, can you try and do something for me?¡±
Empress got the vague impression that Erak was treating her as if she was stupid. ¡°What does Erak want?¡± She said, suspicious.
¡°Can you promise not to use any ((MANA)) directly? At least for a little while?¡±
¡°What? Why would she do that?¡± Empress asked,
Erak¡¯s expressions moved to quickly for her to decipher them, and she was half sure that she wouldn¡¯t have recognized them in the first place, but she guessed that it wasn¡¯t good. ¡°¡please?¡±
It was so pitiful, Empress instantly felt sorry for the Elf.
Erak frowned at her lack of response and looked away. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±
Empress looked at the dozens of black lines spreading through her ((CORE)), she stared at the grey shards that had fallen off and lost their color. She watched the very essence of her being with dissatisfaction. Then she turned back to Erak.
¡°Why?¡± She asked.
INTERLUDE: Ad Astra
The Monolith endured. He was old, far older than most of his kin, but still, he thought of himself as young. The black tower reached toward the Eternal Goodness, a thin cube spire, barely three cubits in its area, at the very top there was another cube. An opal square that slowly grew larger by the year. If one looked upward from the bottom, he wouldn¡¯t see the opal, one would need to stand on the highest mountains of Ladora, above the clouds, and stare into the distance for many miles and, perhaps, he might see a darkness glinting the in skies above them.
He was not always so grand. He had been hardly larger than a grain of sand when he was first gifted to his mother. It seemed foolish, looking back to his childhood, a small stone, swearing that one day, one day, Monolith would become a Star. In his early days, progress was easy, he could go upward many cubits in just a month. As he grew, it became harder to force his domain upward, the amount of ((MANA)) he was forced to exude to keep his spire from toppling was ridiculous, but Sol fed him, and the higher he climbed, the purer the light became, and the more he could grow. The Lunar twins laughed at him during the night, as he siphoned off the energy they so capriciously reflected. Castor and Pollux watched him with uncertain gazes. But Monolith was not deterred. He could feel Mazre¡¯s hold on him begin to loosen, he could see himself ever growing closer to the stars.
Perhaps this was why he never thought to look below him. If Monolith had looked, he would¡¯ve seen the elves. He would¡¯ve seen them come from the sea, fleeing their birthplace of Litone. He would¡¯ve known of their curse. He would¡¯ve seen them fight wars over whether it was moral to take more than one wife, in the hopes of sooner bearing a son. He would¡¯ve seen the Bastard Prince exiled to Litone, bringing with him his daughter-wives and slaves. He would¡¯ve seen the small black pillars that they used to mark their gravestones. He would¡¯ve seen their crimes, their virtues. He would¡¯ve seen them, over centuries, cast out their habits of sin, and accept the curse of Mailon. He would¡¯ve seen that the sun didn¡¯t only shine for him and he would¡¯ve known that, as he slowly reached upward toward Sol, Sol¡¯s children had made their home at the base of his spire.
But Monolith did not look. Monolith climbed. His only desire was to continue his progress, his only mistress was the sky. Monolith stayed unaware of the kingdom around his Domain until someone else tried to reach the stars.
It began with a faint tingling at the base of his spire one night. Monolith thought, perhaps, that a monster or beast had been using the black rock to sharpen its claws, but he did not think this when the tingling began to grow higher.
It was slow, perhaps it climbed a cubit a day, but it didn¡¯t stop climbing. It never stopped climbing. Still, Monolith didn¡¯t worry. He climbed onward himself. It was only when the itch stopped moving, when it stayed in one place, not even a twelfth of the way up his spire, that Monolith grew curious and looked.
A woman with golden skin and eyes was clinging to two knives embedded in the black rock, her feet dangling uselessly. She breathed heavily, and Monolith felt her ((MANA)) giving way. He saw her hands beginning to slip from knife handles. And Monolith wondered why a child had tried to climb so high- when it would certainly spell her doom?
The woman suddenly gripped the knives firmly and pressed her knees against the spire. She pulled one knife from the black rock and lifted her arm to dig it in an arm¡¯s length higher. Then she moved the other.
Monolith watched as the exhausted woman kept slowly pulling herself up higher. He felt puzzled. She must know that she was never going to make it. Why did she keep going? He saw the blistered and broken skin of her hands, causing the knives to become slick with puss and blood, and it didn¡¯t match the confident expression in her eyes.
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And he felt compassion.
In an act not unlike carefully removing a pest from one''s home without harming it, Monolith formed a small platform underneath her, large enough to stand on, but not extravagant. The woman released her weapons, leaving them in the rock. She fell for a brief instant before hitting the platform, then sunk gracefully into a sitting position. She dangled her legs off the sides of the platform while resting her head against the spire.
Monolith formed a spiral staircase heading downward He supposed that if her arms had taken her this far, her legs must be rested. The woman looked at the staircase vindictively and drank from her water skin. She poured water over her wounded hands and ripped the base of her shirt. She wrapped the cloth around her palms and slowly stood up.
Monolith was about to turn away when the woman grabbed her knives once more and continued to climb. He was filled with confusion. Why would anyone keep endangering their life so blatantly? So, Monolith watched as the woman climbed, and she continued to climb, despite her weakness. And when night fell, he created her an alcove in the spire in which she slept protected from the wind. For the first time in many years, Monolith chose not to raise his spire closer to the stars that night.
When day came, the woman still slept, into the next night and day, before she awoke. She ate a meal of water and sunlight, then she began to climb. Monolith closed the alcove behind her. Days passed in this manner, until the woman¡¯s water skin ran dry, and she began to sleep for longer and longer. Monolith watched her while she climbed. Time seemed to pass slower than it had in his entire existence. For the first time, Monolith watched the world through the eyes of another.
It was only inventible that the woman would reach the pinnacle. Perhaps it had taken her longer than Monolith had thought it would, but eventually, she dug her knives into the lip of the spire. And pulled herself onto its top. She lay beside the opal square and laughed. Her hands were black with unhealed scabs, her frame was emaciated and she was smiling.
Then the woman stood up. She looked upon all of Ladora, across oceans she saw the vast red sand deserts of Ridoum, she saw the peaks of the Inth in Litone, she saw the ancient trees of Mori. She stood upon the highest place on Mazre. She had completed the achievement that she had set out toward so many moons ago. Monolith beamed with pride for a reason that he couldn¡¯t decipher.
The woman jumped.
And the dungeon watched in horror as she fell.
It took the woman three hours to hit the ground, but she died before then. Monolith wasn¡¯t sure if her heart had stopped, or if she had given up on breathing. It seemed that she fell slowly. As if time itself was reluctant to let her hit the ground she had spent so long avoiding. But she did, eventually, hit the ground. There was a sort of wet slapping sound as every bone in her body shattered at once. The dirt gave way somewhat around her, and her flesh flattened around the small crater moving almost like gelatinous liquid, between the force of the impact and the destruction of her skeletal system, what remained of her internals had been turned into a slurry of bodily fluids partially trapped within a damaged sack of skin. The only thing left of the woman who scaled Monolith was an organic splatter on an abandoned road of a kingdom long ago lost to plague.
Monolith screamed. And he has yet to stop screaming since.
A simulacrum of a dragon prowls around the Monolith. Dragons cannot carry the Rot, but if they could, perhaps this is what it would look like. It was as big as a house, with black stone bones sticking out of the scaleless golden skin that was too small for it. Its eyes were sunk back into its skull, far too small for its face. Perhaps they had once been gold, but now they were a milky white. A black stone frame for wings stuck out of its spine, but it almost looked as if the attempt had been abandoned halfway through, once whatever twisted creature had designed such a monster realized that it wouldn¡¯t have enough organic material even to attempt flight. It had claws like knives and disturbingly omnivorous teeth.
It was silent, except for on the rare nights when both Ritchi and Herel slept, when the monster would look to the stars, unblemished by moonlight, and keen.
Affinity
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