Marty was pissed. He stewed quietly in the darkness into which he had been thrust by that, that... Demon, angel or god or whatever he was. ‘Damn Jasper, that son of a bitch has always caused problems. I could have forgiven him for getting us killed in that bus; after all, I hadn’t expected anything except a truly unpleasant journey. But...’
But why had he antagonised that... That being, he could have tried to be conciliatory, but no, not Jasper the prima donna glory hound. And now he suspected he was not going to enjoy his next life. Magic! A world of magic... Primitive and uncomfortable, no Internet or computers... This was going to be hell.
Then Marty felt as if was being stretched until he popped out of wherever he was. There was a brief spark of light before everything was dark once more.
He nearly went mad; he was hit with a massive attack of claustrophobia. He clawed out desperate to gain some space. When he came to himself again, the claustrophobia had vanished despite the fact that he seemed to be floating in the middle of a small, roughly oval cavern. It was pitch black but he could perceive everything in the cavern down to the minutest detail.
Marty realized he couldn’t move, he felt detached, it seemed completely natural to be a glowing crystal ball in the middle of a cave. He felt full, and knew he had a reserve of limestone. ‘What the hell am I? And why the hell am I so accepting of what has happened?’
An emotionless mental voice sort of answered him, « Initializing new dungeon core Marty Delnegro. Downloading appropriate skills and knowledge pack. Initializing level locks. Time remaining nine hours, twenty-eight minutes and fifty-four seconds. »
Marty found himself incapable of doing much of anything as the countdown ticked away. He examined the download itself, his hacker instincts prickling, the stream was slow... but he was able to pick out some points. Marty learned.
Ting – « Download complete. »
Ting – « Skill gained: Magic script. »
Ting – « Summoning dungeon companion. Time remaining fifty-two minutes five seconds. »
Once again Marty examined the process minutely, this time he picked up far more information.
Ting – « Summoning complete. »
Ting – « Skill raised: Magic script. »
A swirl of energy that Marty now recognised as mana burst and left behind huge breasted woman. She almost looked deformed, and she had leathery bat like wings and a arrowhead tipped tail. Her face was very familiar and unwelcome.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
« Jasper!??!?! »
The tiny woman flitted round his cave examining everything and ignoring him. Marty was not amused; this was his cave, his home!
“Is this all you’ve done Marty? You need to dig out some more rooms. You should create some crypts and summon some zombies and skeletons.”
« What the hell are you Jasper? And I don’t want to have to share my home with a lot of decaying corpses. »
The little woman, the new Jasper sniffed in contempt. “I’m a dungeon Imp. It’s not what I wanted but at least this way I can move around. And you are my dungeon core.”
« I’m not yours. I will never be yours. »
“Tough, the System has selected you to be my dungeon and you will do what I tell you. You and your brother always have.”
Marty snorted, « You mean I always went along with Randy. I don’t see him anywhere. »
“Look I know better than you about what’s going on. You’re a dungeon core. You should start the dungeon setup process and choose darkness and undead. It’ll be cool. You’ll see.”
« Won’t! » huffed Marty. « Why don’t you get lost? Shoo! »
Jasper’s face flushed with rage, “Look you pathetic creep, create some rooms and open my dungeon to the surface.”
« Won’t! » snapped Marty again even as he multitasked and scanned the data dump he had been given. « I’m not ready to open up. I’d be too vulnerable. These things take time. »
Jasper rammed his fists on his hips and glared. “Very well, any dungeon would be better than you. Open up a passage and let me out.”
« I am not opening up to the outside until I’m ready. Why don’t you leave the way you arrived? »
“Because I can’t,” sneered Jasper. “Now choose darkness and undead.”
« Feck off, I’d rather have an anthill inside, with flowers and bees. Something nice. »
“WHAT! ARE YOU INSANE! Bugs and flowers won’t protect us. You need Zombies and things, then you can upgrade to liches and vampires.”
Marty ignored the irate Imp and stated with as much confidence as he could call up: « Companion rejected. Imps rejected. »
Ting – « Acknowledged »
And to Marty’s great relief Jasper vanished in a puff of sulphurous smoke. ‘Mmm... I need light and soil. I need a garden. I wonder, can I remember mom’s garden, I spent enough weekends weeding it.’
Marty concentrated and felt something deep inside him, his, his, store... He examined the detached dimension he now seemed to be connected to. It was mostly empty but there was a mass of limestone with a few scraps of marble. Then there were three packs of seeds, the seeds that had been in his pocket. They seemed to be tagged with a rather half-hearted apology from the being that had cast him into this unwelcome existence. He focused on the pack that had the red rose seeds.
As he concentrated he realized that he was learning all about roses, many of the seeds were dead, not too surprising considering how cheap the packets had been but... He knew he could recover them. He focused on the seed that – that glowed the brightest. These roses would need sunlight and fertile soil... He reached out, and then felt as if all his vitality was leaving him in a rush. He blacked out.
When he woke again, he examined the bright light that clung to the ceiling of his cave. It was absorbing some of the mana that swirled around it. Then he looked at the small rosebush that was growing in a small patch of soil under his floating orb. Marty could feel himself relaxing. As all the tension that he hadn’t realized he had been feeling flowed out.