“Tiria has told me some stories about them before she fell from graze and it is possible that some new human avatars are born inside my city in the future as I seem to have a kind of spawn point here.”

The old woman took a gaze to her younger fellow human, “Get Torben here, tell him we got a situation here that needs his attension.”

The young man turned his mount around with a slight pressure of his tights and spurned it then into an impressive speed burst over the former battlefield. Whenever they came upon a pitfall the catlizard, whatever its exact name was, jumped easily over the obstacle and ran with undiminished speed forward. I realized that this animal alone could have easily surmounted my walls without breaking a sweat. I had to make my new walls much higher and stronger.

Luckily I had now a dungeon at my service for raw materials to farm or the region would have looked like Swiss cheese in no time because of my tunelling for stone. Not that this wouldn't happen because I needed a dirt and waste removal system but with Sarah at my side I wouldn't have to dig for more material than necessary.

“So knowledge about avatars is something special around here?” I asked Kira.

She looked with a sour look at me, “Ever since the cataclysm there was no new avatar on this world and now you show up and there seems to have changed everything. It isn't something bad but we will have to station some of our people here to watch the new avatars closely to avoid being surprised by some upstarts.”

“Oh, that's no problem with me, I would be very happy to accommodate some of your people in my city. This place shall become a beacon of civilization on this planet for all who want to live peacefully inside its walls.”

Kira watched me as if to discover any lies in my behaviour, “You're a strange one but the boy already said that you seem to be a completely other kind of core than Tiria's usual minions.”

I had to break it to her better sooner than later, “There's something I have to tell you before any more is said and you discover it at an unlucky moment. I have contracted a dungeon core to my services.”

Her gaze drilled into me and I was seriously frightened now.

“Explain 'contracted' and do it better plain and clear to avoid any misgivings later!” Her voice ladden with malice.

“I was taken hostage during the siege by minions of the new dungeon god Thorm...”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What!? What happened with this bitch Tiria? Is she dead? I wanted to do the deed myself!”

That could turn ugly fast, “No she isn't dead and before you say anything more, I have to inform you that I gave the former goddess asylum in my city for now she's reduced to a starting avatar.”

It may have been stupid to tell her that looking at her sudden anger building in her gaze but as soon as she would have found out the trouble would have been much bigger.

“I have to say that your actions do not shine a good light on you, young core, but I will hear your words until the end before I bring judgement upon you.”

If I could have sweat there would have been a pool under me right now.

“I don't know what beef you have with Tiria and I'm not very interested in the story very much but she has pledged for asylum and I gave it to her so respect my choices because if you're ever in the same situation like her because she tried to defend me from the dirty hands of other gods for their own devices I will help you also. I'm no big fan of the gods right now even if I'm forced to build a temple for them as my next action and I need the resources a dungeon can generate for building.”

Kira seemed taken back for my words as she knew that she could easily slay me and my attitude towards her was no way the one she expected, so she just nodded.

“The contract I made with Sarah, the dungeon core, is such that she can't go against my wishes and if I tell her to not kill anyone in her dungeon then she has to obey it even if it goes against everything she incorporates.”

Kira frowned, “So she can't kill anybody if you order her to so? How does she survive then? I mean that's the way dungeons feed, isn't it?”

“They get some mana from their territory but mostly you are right. In this special case though she is bound to me and therefore gets all her mana from me, so you see that all her power originates from me and I have absolute control over her and her core as for me its just an item that I can move around like I want it to.”

Kira had a predatory grin on her face, “Oh I bet that she hates you with passion for that. Dungeons do hate nothing more than to have their fate in another's hand. I'm not happy with the idea of having Tiria on this world and it will be another factor for me to stay in your town to watch over you and her. Yes, you heard right I will stay here,” Her grin had now the size of Joker in the old Batman movies.

I wasn't thrilled to have her in my city but on the other hand with her here the bad guys out there would have some problems getting to me and maybe be even frightened enough to just put the thought to rest to cause trouble.

“I'm happy to have you.”

“Yeah, I'm sure of it.” I somewhat didn't like her smile.

Just now two humans on their mounts came from the forest. One of them on the biggest bear I've ever seen. The animal must have measured 10 meters easily. And it was FAST. In no time the two were at us.

The guy on the bear looked young, much younger than Kira but I felt power flowing from this guy, not as much as from Kira but the way she looked at him made me cautious. With a flowing move he dismounted over the bear's snout and stopped right before me.

He had a leather armour dark as night and with his black hair , strong masculine facial features and a lean body he was the epitome of any fitness trainer around, “So that's Tiria's new pet?”

“I'm no pet and just so you know, Tiria released me from her grip to become a system creature to avoid giving the other gods any access to my powers. Now they have to petition to me directly if they want anything. After they helped the new dungeon god Thorm with her downfall I will make sure that they have to pay a hefty price for anything they want from me.”

He looked dumbstruck, “You mean to say that Tiria has fallen from godhood?”

I just wanted to answer him when I heard the former goddess's voice, “Hi Torben! Long time no see. I thought you died some 20000 years ago in the cataclysm. It seems you have found a way to disguise yourself from the prying eyes of the old gods.”

The human man looked now as if somebody had knocked him over with a sledgehammer.

“Tiria, baby, lets forget these irrelevant matters and look for a decent bed. I haven't bed you for thousands of years and you owe me some sleep-over time.”

Excuse me? What's happening here right now? Kira and the others also seemed to be taken by surprise so I wasn't the only one.