mojiso I was stuck in this cave as a gem in the wall, it was strange how I instinctively knew that my soul was in that gem while the cave was my body somehow. the cave itself was rather straight in an upwards slanted kind of way which I only knew due to a small pond that had formed under a crop of stalagmites or are they stalactites?.

what did teddy use to say? hmm “if it hangs from a ceiling; it forms A T with it. while you Mite fall and impale yourself on those that are on the ground”. I’m being awfully calm about all of this. I mean normally I would probably panic or be sick with worry for my buddy teddy. but they where currently being drowned out by whatever I now am, it is natural instinct to protect my gemstone

I thought of the games I played with teddy and was struck by inspiration as I drew upon one of my most cherished memories of him.

I felt better now.

before I had realised it I had made a statue that was so lifelike it could have been him as he sat there engrossed in his storytelling over the top of his dungeon master screen behind which I had hidden my core. granted all you had to do was walk behind the screen but now the gem was not eminently visible from outside.

I now knew what I was. teddy had been head over heels about a new genre of stories that he loved to read and I realised. this should have been him, not me… a classic trope as he called it was that some deity would manipulate circumstances so the mc died and was reincarnated. but I had gotten I the way of that and now here I was in the shoes of my friend

in the dream of my friend who always how he would do it if it happened to him

but I wasn’t a dungeon master, I had only tried it once I a game of ‘bunions and flagons’ and that had been mostly for laughs…

I looked at the DM screen that right now was just 3 thick slabs of stone. that ain’t right

and I didn’t want to forget my friend, so I tried to will picture onto the slap

the left-wing was depicted with a series of picture of how I, as a big burly warrior (i change our looks a little) befriended the mousy looking wizard

the right was depicted with a series of pictures of how we struggled our way into each other’s group of friends with my friend’s glorious panty snatching taking the centrepiece

and in the middle, I depicted the betrayal of his nerd friends as I had clad them in demonic-looking skulls.

I took a step backwards and admired my handiwork.

it was eerie how good it looked. especially because my talents did not lie in art as my mother would have said.

I just sat there looking at me and teddy’s story with a small pang of longing in my heart as I listen to the occasional drip from the stalactites when a small band of leather-clad green folk rushed into the cave

they were talking in low voices yet I could hear them perfectly. what was weirder though was how I could understand them completely even though I didn’t recognise a single word they said. they had a squirming sack roughly their size strung up on a pole 2 of them were carrying on in each end

“hurry up before man finds us and kills us”

they dashed into the cave and froze the instant the saw teddy and the screen, who by the way was at least 8 or 9 times taller than they where.

after a few tense seconds, their leader apperently decided my statue wasn’t dangerous but an opportunity as he pointed to teddys massive stone head “climb up, good hiding” he hissed at his band before adding a “quickly”

the little buggers scaled teddy in an impressive time. they made an almost vertical bucket chain with their burden whilst hanging on to virtually nothing and then scampering after themselves and in no times flat they where hidden in a little alcove that had formed behind teddys shoulders.

they were being very still when 3 people double the size of the green men ran inside only for the woman of the group grab the 2 men’s shoulders which had them stop at a moment

the woman was human that much was clear, average built but with motherly hips and bust

“I sense dungeon, be careful.

the two men tensed at that but nodded and proceeded after the woman had cast a light spell that floated gently behind her

right humans can’t see in the dark that’s fantasy 101.

so I focused on her light and will the tips of the stalactites to light up

it wasn’t as powerful as her light but the quantity did the trick of lighting up the cave

“hey Cecile, did the dungeon just fucking copy your light spell?”. the man who had taken point said in a clearly shaken voice

“maybe, I will have to be careful in my spelling, and so it hinges on Chris and you, right Chris. Chirs?.

both the other man and Cecile first looked at Chris and then followed where chis were looking to see why he had frozen in place

and they to froze when they saw the (compared to them) giant lifelike statue

Cecile was quick on to unfreeze “dungeon, a band of goblins have raided our village and stolen many of our young. the group we are tracking have my daughter and if I find that you shelter them by the name of [Elyssa] I shall travel to your heart room and destroy you.

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

there was a chime-like sound as the mother bear of a woman invoked the name, Elyssa.

it was clear the couldn’t see me as both goblins and humans had not looked once at where I was looking from.

there was no debate in my mind the little green fuckers had kidnapped children but how to talk to the woman without a form

so I formed an arrow outlined by weak lights on the ground and then moved it over the cave floor towards and upwards until it pointed at teddy’s shoulder.

a goblin was peeking over the edge thinking himself hidden until his eyes met Cecile’s.

quick as a whip she hurled a ball of magical gas up into the goblin hideout and all tension left them as they fell asleep.

“Bjorn, Chriss” the two men moved fast (not goblin fast though), they were at the top of Teddy in but a moment and both performed a very practised manoeuvre where they swung themselves over the ledge (shoulder) and continued in a roll that saw both men on their feet with blades drawn and in motion.

The sleeping green men were dispatched efficiently and the previously squirming bag was opened to reveal a sleeping girl that I put in the range of 8 to 13

“she is okay Cecile” yelled Bjorn as a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

“The goblins aren’t dissolving” this time it was Chriss who yelled. “so that means they aren’t from this dungeon”

so the green men where goblins, should have know

Bjorn took out a bundle of rope with a hook attached from his backpack and fastened it around teddy’s neck. he and Chris then used the rope secured in a loop under the child’s arms to lower her down to the waiting mother. then they rappelled down one at a time.

all 4 of them were now behind the DM screen Cecile where fusing over the sleeping girl in her arms while Chris and Bjorn just stood starring dumbfounded at the turquoise gem that was embedded into the wall.

“Hey Chris, what kind of dungeon makes that kind of art before…” Bjorn gestures at the statue and the blank backside of the master screen.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Bjorn, I haven’t seen anything quite like it”

Cecile seemed to have determined her child safe for the moment

and I deemed I didn’t want them this close to my exposed core so I made another arrow out of light and had it going away from my core

“heh, now that is probably the most politely I’ve ever been asked to fuck off by a dungeon” A visible relieved Chris chuckled.

the arrow leads them around to the left side of the screen where I had it point towards the pictures.

I wanted to know what they thought of the story.

“what, do you want us to look at the murals?” both men looked a little spooked but said nothing as Cecile walked over to the mural.

now how could I communicate with Cecile, writing wouldn’t help as none of the 3 spoke English. so I flashed her a smiling emoji.

she smiled at that.

she focused on the mural and started “so a mage and a knight became friends and helped cover each other’s weaknesses”.

I gave the image of two grasping hands and then lead her to the other side

“the 2 became close and both wanted the other to share their friends the mage was the first to achieve success but when the knight succeded the mages friends grew jealous and shunned the mage”

I made the cry face emoji bob up and down as I lead her to the centrepiece

“the mage was attacked and brutally beaten. so the knight came to the rescue but was shoved off a cliff. he fell to his death, no not his death, the knight’s shoes are that of the mage. you’re the knight and you believe your friend was fated for this”… she looked at the last picture again and let a tiny chuckle slip. “you believe this spot as a dungeon was for your friend.” I made the neutral emoji face but with a tear and made it nod

“well I can honestly tell you that I haven’t heard of a dungeon being sentient this early in its life before and then it usually takes them a long while to figure out how to communicate with us”

I made a baby emoji and then a baby emoji and then a bit away I made the family emoji

“I guess one could look at new dungeons as babies without anyone to guide them”

a moment of indecision crossed her face before she added “you already have a leg up on them though so I’m sure you will figure it out” she turned to the two men

now we really must be going so I can put my sweet girl to bed” and with that, she left my cave with her daughter and 2 chaperones

the sloping of the cave meant that I could see them for a long time while they made it down the mountain that my cave resided on

another thing, when the group left I slowly felt senses I wasn’t aware had faded, coming back to me.

this must be what teddy called the rule of no interference

and that is when the taste of goblin hit me.