Once the wooden door clicks shut behind me, I let out a long sigh. Finally back home, back… inside myself. That’s still so weird.

“Glad to be back.” Maddi says with a smile. I nod in agreement.

Our short moment of peace is ruined as a mental connection snaps between me, Maddi, and an overly ornery cat.

“Finally! I was about to kill these humans!” Azrael hisses.

Panic fills my heart as I remember the soldiers I left here. “What happened?” I ask worriedly.

The cat demon lets out a long, hissy sigh. “They’ve been wandering between bars for hours! Where did they even get money? I had to put the one with a stick in time out, he kept smashing shit.”

My chest settles as I realize that things aren’t actually that bad. I really expected them to have at least hurt one of the nonhumans in town, with the way Azrael was acting.

“I’m glad nothing bad happened.” I say. Next to me, Maddi nods in agreement.

“What do you mean, nothing bad?! I’ve been following a bunch of depressed drunks for over twelve hours!” Azrael screeches.

“All right, all right! It was very bad. I’ll have Maddi take over now. You go… do whatever you want.” I say placatingly. After a moment, I add. “Where did you put the troublemaker?”

“I gave him to Blue, so he should be in the kobold village.” Azrael replies, suddenly in a much better mood.

“Alright, I’ll head that way.” With our respective plans in place, I sever the mental connection. I glance at Maddi, who’s frowning. “Will you be okay? Watching after the pricks who hurt you?” A twinge of regret hits me, I should’ve asked her first.

Maddi looks over me in surprise. “Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I was just thinking about something…” She trails off.

“What is it?” I ask.

She taps her thigh with a long nail. “Well… you can’t usually leave the dungeon, and neither can the dungeon monsters, at least not for long. So… why were we able to go to Earth?”

I blink. She’s right, why were we able to go there. It’s definitely not part of me, so we went outside the dungeon boundaries.

“Maybe… this world’s rules don’t apply there?” I say hesitantly.

Maddi just shrugs. “Maybe… But it's not really important right now. I need to babysit.” With a wink, she steps forward into a quickly made portal of flame.

…Well, I guess I should go check on that problem child. Just as I go to move to the kobold village, a black, toothy grin flashes to mind.

After a quick stop to my room, to visit my problem child.

────────────

Once I finish watching a movie with Wem, I shift myself to Blue’s spot in the kobold village.

As my vision fades in, I’m shocked by what I see. Blue, sitting in his typical spot, is surrounded by at least twenty kobold children. And in the center of them all sits the bat-wielding soldier, the jacket of his uniform removed. The little reptiles listen with rapt attention as the man swings his arms and speaks.

I stay quiet, listening to the guy’s story from the outskirts of the group.

“And then, just when all hope was lost, I swung my bat at the horrible fiend. With a loud crack,” he claps his hands together for effect, “the salamander flew across the cave. When it hit the wall, it went right through!” He pauses. “Then, while we all waited for a sign of movement, the cave wall collapsed!” He makes a sound that’s supposed to be rocks falling with his mouth. “And the beast was slain!”

The kids all cheer, throwing their arms up in excitement. They start babbling to each other, clearly inspired by the man’s story. As they have their fun, I weave my way through.

The soldier catches sight of me, his brow furrowing instantly. “What do you want, witch?” he snarls.

I let out a sigh. “Still mad at me? I don’t see why, when you’re still alive and all.” I motion to his T-shirt covered frame.

He shrugs. “Whatever, you still tortured Sarge.”

“You mean I punished him for almost killing my… sister?” I ask.

The man goes silent, glaring at the ground. I guess he isn’t totally devoid of sense.

“Anyways, I’m impressed at how good you are with kids,” I say, smiling at one of the little scaly scamps. They look at me in awe, and fear, before scampering off.

Again the man shrugs. “I guess, I had a lot of little siblings back home.”

I smile a bit sadly at his words. “I was… an only child. I’m glad I was, so no one else went through what I did… But I also am a bit jealous, I wonder what having a sibling would’ve been like,” I babble to the man. What am I doing?

He stares at me, his mouth slightly agape. After a bit, he pulls himself together. “What did you say your name was?” he asks.

“Oubliette, but people call me Oubi,” I reply, sitting down next to him.

“Well, I’m Greg, and I’m surprised you want siblings, being a dungeon and all.” He rubs the back of his head nervously.

I bite my lip. I… want to tell this guy about my past. Why? Is it some kind of ability, or magic? …No, I have immunity to those kinds of things.

“I… was a human, at one point,” I say slowly.

Greg’s eyes light up. “Really?” he says, weirdly excited.

I nod. “Yeah, really. Even if I wasn’t treated like one.”

“How’d you become…” He waves his hand towards me.

I giggle. “I died.”

The man deflates like a balloon. “Oh… sorry.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I blink. Did the guy who was calling me witch up until a few minutes ago just apologize? “I-it’s no big deal, I was miserable anyways. This life is much better,” I reassure him.

For some reason, he still looks depressed. Eventually he speaks up again. “What did you look like, before?”

I flinch. “Uh… fuck…” I mumble.

He tilts his head. “It couldn’t have been that bad, could it?”

I shrug. “It was, in a way…” I’m not going to tell him I used to be a guy, I can’t. I haven’t even told Wem, let alone some… some stranger!

“I was… a guy, in my last life,” I say with a shiver. “But, not on the inside, not because I wanted to be.”

Greg blinks at me in shock. “You were a man?” he asks incredulously.

Fury wells up inside me. “No! I wasn’t! I just looked like one!” I yell.

He raises his hands up, gesturing placatingly. “O-okay, okay! I get it…” He pauses. “You’re just… so pretty, it’s hard to believe.”

For some reason, his words make me blush. “W-well, it’s true! But I’m a girl now!” I say nervously.

After a small nod, Greg slips into silence. He stares at the ground, clearly deep in thought. I shift my focus away from him, looking behind us at the blue giant playing with the children. So much has changed since I was last here, the small clearing where Blue sits is now a massive courtyard with intricate tiles carving paths through glowing moss. The buildings surrounding us look almost Roman in design, cleanly cut gray blocks of stone and carved pillars everywhere.

“I get it,” Greg says suddenly, surprising me.

I look up at the slouched over man. “Get what?”

He grips the thick end of his bat, wringing his hands around it. “Get wanting to be a girl, I get how it feels,” he says very quietly.

I stare at him in complete shock. He… feels like I did? So is he a girl, too? What do I do here? Do I call them she? Or he? Maybe they? Oh god, I’m so not prepared for this. And it’s some random soldier, too.

They chuckle darkly. “Yeah, I know. This big guy wants to look pretty and cute? What a weirdo… I do, though. I guess I’m… a bit jealous, that you got to be yourself.” Their voice is… so sad, bitter.

“You… you could be yourself too, you know,” I say, leaning closer to the struggling person.

They glare at me. “Are you kidding? Someone like me? And in the army, too? I’m not sure how long you’ve been dead, but Earth ain’t as nice as you think.” Their voice shakes in pain. “No, I… I gotta just…” Their voice goes silent as tears start to drop to the ground.

Against my better judgment, I reach over and put my hand on their back. “What if… what if you didn’t have to be in the army?” I ask.

Again their eyes turn harsh. “What do you mean?”

“Stay here,” I say bluntly. “Fuck the army, just stay here. I… I could help you figure out a way to be yourself.” What am I saying? I have no way to do that!

They stare at me, wide eyed. “F-for real? You’re not, like… tempting me into some kind of contract, right? Your sister is a demon.”

I laugh. “No, I’m being sincere.” For some reason. “So, wanna stay?”

Suddenly I’m wrapped in a massive bear hug.

“Yes!” they say. “Thank you!”

What did I just do?

────────────

After disentangling myself from the emotional person, I excuse myself and teleport back into my room. Wem is lying in the artificial pond, snoozing away in the lukewarm water. I softly smile and lie on my bed.

So… I really just made a bunch of promises I have no means to fulfill. Help them be themself? How can I possibly do that? Maybe there's magic that can, but I don’t know it, and I have no idea if Maddi or Azrael could learn. Maybe one of the villagers? Or the kobolds?

I sigh, pushing myself deeper into the soft mattress beneath me.

Maybe… maybe something in the dungeon system can help? Without any other great ideas, and with nothing else to do, I open up the menu. Quickly flicking to the ‘Research’ panel, I start to look for something that might help. Shockingly, it doesn’t take me long to find a lead.

Corruption:

Convert a sentient being into a dungeon monster, has two modes.

Mode One, Forceful: You seize hold of a mentally broken being, and mold them as you please. Their power level is set to a basic monster and their soul becomes bound to you, causing them to develop an undying loyalty to you.

Mode Two, Recruit: A willing being offers themselves up to you. Their body will shift to suit their personality, and their abilities will grow in proportion to your own abilities. You may force a sense of loyalty into them, if you so choose.

While not exactly what the soldier formerly known as Greg wants, it’s pretty darn close. Unhappy with binding them to the dungeon permanently, I keep searching for another choice. It takes about an hour, but eventually I do find one.

Mutation Pod: A biological structure that allows you to manipulate a living thing’s body. It cannot increase their overall abilities, but it can decrease them. Takes up to several months, with more extensive changes taking exponentially longer. Cannot change a creature’s race.

This seems much closer to what they want. The problem is how long it will take. Well, that and the cost. Buying the ability alone is 100,000 life points, and each change has a separate cost as well. I can only imagine how quickly that would rack up if I was to completely rewrite their body.

Even if I want to offer the pod as an option, they’d have to wait months for me to build up that much lifeforce. And I’d still have to feel safe spending that much, so who knows how long it will really be. …I guess I’ll give them the choice to wait, or to take my offer to ‘corrupt’ them.

I hop up, anxious to tell them what I found. Before leaving, I glance over at Wem. The cute slime is sleeping soundly still, floating in her pond. She looks bigger, thank god.

I pop back into Blue’s square, but the soldier is nowhere to be found. After waving to the elemental, I start searching for the missing person. Thankfully I find them quite quickly, as they’re sitting inside one of the nearby houses.

They’re sitting with a kobold family around a crude table, eating a meal with the lizards. The soldier is scarfing down the food, making sure to let the kobolds see their contented smile. They’re really a people pleaser.

As I walk up to the building, I knock on the open door frame. All the eyes in the room snap towards me, and the two kobold adults jump from their seats. I stop them before they do anything embarrassing.

“Please, no bowing.” I beg them. They graciously listen, electing to instead stare at me nervously. I glance over to who I came to see. “Hey, I have something to tell you.”

The ex-soldier nods. “Thank you so much for the food, it was great.” They say to the kobolds, with a massive grin.

We leave the building, walking back into Blue’s square to sit on a stone bench. Once we’re both seated, I start.

“So, I found a way to… y’know.” I say, oh so confidently.

They snort. “Make me a woman?” They say with a smirk.

I blush. “I-i wouldn’t word it like that, but yeah.” They light up at my answer. “But there’s a catch!” I quickly add.

Their eyes narrow. “What is it?”

I let out a long sigh. “Well, there’s two ways to do it. One is to create a body sculpting pod, and sticking you in it for a few months. I’d have you give me a detailed description of what you want to look like, and I’d change you to match. The problem is… it’s extremely energy hungry. I have no idea when I’d be able to do it.” I rant.

They look at me, their eyes deadly serious. “The other option?”

I grimace. “I… turn you into a monster.” They flinch, so I quickly extrapolate. “You’d have free will! You’d just get sick if you left the dungeon. The reason I’m even giving this option is because you’ll change into a form that is close to your soul. So there’s no chance I can screw it up. It’s also very cheap, magic wise, since it's monster related.” As I speak, their eyes slowly lose their suspicious glint, until they finally relax.

“Alright, I understand.” They go quiet, obviously mulling over their options. After a shockingly short amount of time, they pipe up again. “I’ve decided.” They say confidently.

I blink in surprise. “So, what’s your choice?” I ask.

They give me a cocky smile. “Corrupt me, witch.”