I am a dungeon core. I have been for a long time, but until recently I didn’t have the words to say that. I didn’t have any words actually. About a month ago I learned to talk. Well, not talk really. I’m a glowing rock. We don’t really talk. But I did learn to understand the language the priests were using.

I know what priests are called now. Before I just thought of them as the glowy white people. Except the black ones. They still glowed white but were black. Oh wow. I think up until now I was very stupid. I don’t think I’m super smart now, but at least now I’m only kind of stupid.

I’ve always noticed them making noise and waving their arms, but I never thought about it much. I can’t talk to anyone. I command my mobs, but they’re part of me, so it doesn’t count. The idea of communicating with another being is completely foreign to me. But once I realized it was possible, and they were doing it, I decided to try and learn.

It was harder than I thought it would be. Some of it was easy. A good portion of what I heard was simple one-word commands. Everything else took a long time. I was very stupid, so I needed a lot of examples and repetition to figure it out. Anything that didn’t have to do with fighting didn’t get spoken very often, so it was a long, tedious, and difficult process.

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Everything came together a month ago. Two of the really strong priests were talking in my core room. I don’t like them being there, but they could kill every monster in my dungeon at the same time, and then shatter me with a finger, so I don’t have any choice. They said two words that I’d heard before, but that I hadn’t been able to figure it out.

They were arguing and shouting sometimes, and on occasion they’d point at me, and that’s when I realized it. Me. They were talking about me. Dungeon Core. I am a dungeon core. In that instant, all of reality shifted in a way I cannot describe and will likely never experience again. For the first time in my life I had a sense of self. I knew what I was, and with that knowledge came the framework for understanding everything else, and deep down in the core of my being, something changed on a fundamental level.

Then I passed out.