Chapter 15
Alex
I spent the rest of the night considering my options. It was after all an important decision and I figured right now it did not seem to be that I had to rush. When the first apprentice entered my heart room to transfer his mana, I had come to one conclusion. I did not have nearly enough information. As much as it galled me I found three purchases in the information tab.
Idiot’s guide to the Attributes for Dungeons. 10 DP
Idiot’s Guide to the Dungeon Catalogue 10 DP
Idiot’s Guide to Deities 5 DP
The first one I figured would help me discover exactly what I should use my free stat points on and what each stat really did. The second would give me a greater understanding of the catalogue. I know it kind of seemed like a waste of a full level worth of DP but I knew I was missing something important and I hoped this would help me discover what.
The last one… Well the more interaction I had with Ellinoria and the more I heard of the other gods the less I thought about them. It was starting to seem to me that the gods of this world were a bunch of childish high schoolers with a lot of power and free time. I really hoped this guide would prove me wrong. With a reluctant sigh I confirmed my purchase. I felt something in me leave. Not sure what exactly but something and then… Information flooded me. It was like someone turned on a light switch connected to my brain and let electricity shoot through me. It hurt and it hurt a lot! I was screaming and if I had hands I would be ripping out my hair. The process lasted for… well I have no idea how long, but when it stopped I had my first complete loss of conscience
“Dungeon! You will obey me!” The Master Necromancer was screaming at me. For the life of me though I could not figure out why. Everything was foggy and unclear.
“Dungeon respond!” She was right outside the binding circle with two nervous looking apprentices a short distance behind her. She had been ranting for a bit evidently because the anger and magic she was channeling had made her eyes glow a sullen red. Spittle lined her lips and chin. The hood of her dark black robe had fallen off exposing her full face and the utterly insane look warping her gaunt features.
I felt the compulsion to obey to respond to her, even though I had no idea how I was meant to respond. As my instinctual self-began to turn toward my hidden minions I realized I had to do something. The binding circle forced me to do something and if I didn’t choose a way to respond then my baser self would for me. Thinking quickly I realized I had never created the Skeleton for the apprentice and judging by my current mana I was behind two Skeletons.
The instant I realized that and decided that could be a response my instinctual self acted. Mana rushed from me. It began to alter the world building the two Skeletons. The process seemed to happen at a leisurely pace to me, but I knew from the point that I started the construction to the end less than a minute passed.
To the outside world the Skeletons appeared to rise from the ground like they were pulling themselves from it. “Huh,” I thought. “This is kind of new.” Normally when I created the skeletons they just formed fully standing. It seems that the effects were different if I let my dungeon instincts handle them. I had to truly admit this way of creation looked a lot cooler and could be used to scare the unobservant. If someone paid close attention though they would notice that the ground itself was never disturbed.
The apprentices were not observant. The woman’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and the man visible blanch and swayed precariously. In contrast the Master Necromancer just watched with eyes full of rage. Once the Skeletons were fully formed she shouted at me, “Give me full control of them!”
I was about to issue my normal set of commands but paused. She said full command… She did not say…
“Skeletons, you will obey her commands and follower her orders, except when they contradict my own or my slaves.”
I had barely issued the command before the Master Necromancer shouted, “Skeletons come out of the circle.”
Since this command did not pose any issue to any command they already had the Skeletons began to leave the circle. I shot another command to them before they stepped out of my territory, “You will obey my slave except when it contradicts my own commands. You will obey my orders above all others.” It was a close thing. The thought had barely flowed with power as their feet passed over the damned binding circle.
“Dungeon, I do not know what game you are playing or what you think you are doing, but you are my slave. You will serve and obey me!” I held my metaphorical breath. With the right set of wording she could completely ruin all my plans. She could give me such rigid commands that I would have no wiggle room to attempt to free myself.
“Dungeon when you receive enough mana from my apprentices you will Cast Raise Skeleton immediately. You will not wait. You will then give me complete control over the Skeleton.”
“Oh please let that be all.”
“You will not continue these games of making the Skeletons appear in unusual ways. You will not alter the Skeletons in any way. You will ensure they do not fall apart.” She paused, then smiled cruelly, “And you will no longer have them take mana from me, you will have them draw the mana from my apprentices.” She smile turned dark, “You did not think your attempts to weaken me would go unnoticed did you? If you had a body I would flay you for attempting something so devious. But you do not, so I will consider other ways to punish you.”
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She turned and pushed between the apprentices shoving them to the side roughly. At the door she turned, “Oh and in three days I will be expanding your circle. You will grow your domain to the larger circle and then we will begin working on stronger minions.”
I felt the door slam closed. Then the rapid footfalls of the two apprentices and the door closed a second time. The Air moving ever so slightly was the only noticeable indication that another apprentice had entered as the first two left. A moment later more mana began to be pushed into my circle and I let out my held breath.
“Can she really be that stupid? How can she not be sure to give me more crucial commands?” I thought.
To my surprise Ellinoria responded, “She thinks that since the gods gave her the knowledge to create you that you are designed to obey. So she is not as paranoid as she should be. Oh and she is distracted.”
My curiosity was stoke, “Distracted by?” I had a moment of worry that Andrea may have been discovered.
“No the girl is fine. The Necromancer is distracted because her plans are not going as she designed.”
“What do you mean? What happened?” But I got no response. Once again the goddess paid attention and spoke to me only when it was convened for her.
Growling in frustration I began to mentally sort through the information I had gained. The information that had caused this whole mess to begin with. First I focused on the annoying Gods. Most of the information was put together like a badly written infomercial. Lots of hype and very little content of substance.
Apparently there is six divine courts that rule over this universe. A court of Orderly Light. A Court of Chaotic Darkness. A Court of Good and Life. A court of Evil and Death. And a court of Neutrality and Command. Each of these courts contained hundreds of gods and goddesses vying for power between themselves and the other courts.
The last court had only three siblings. It was these three that created this Universe. They created 3 gods for each of the lesser courts and told them to go forth upon the realm. The lesser courts were given a simple edict; Do as you wish upon this reality, but only one court can survive and ascend to become Elder Gods. Thus strife was driven between the courts. The Elder gods retreated from reality to watch what became of their little game. As if on an afterthought they departed leaving a set of rules and regulations that the lesser gods, their mortal creations and the worlds created must follow.
Nothing was mentioned how the courts went from 3 deities per court to hundreds. Nor what the Rules and Regulations were. After reviewing the information I was rather disappointed in the lack of useful material. Nothing was mentioned about gods names, what they wanted, or even really explaining what the courts each really valued.
“So now you know.” Ellinoria spoke in a sullen tone.
“What do I know?” I asked confused.
Suddenly there was a jerking sensation like someone grabbed me behind my belly button and pulled. Then I was standing back in my body in a richly appointed house. It was kind of smallish. With only two doors leading from a 3m x 4m large living space. The door behind me appeared to lead outside and judging by the view out of the windows next to it the house was set high up in a tree. To my left was a series of bookshelves; but there was not a single book upon them. Instead there sprawled all manner of animals. Most watched me with curious eyes, but others napped lazily. A Large neon blue bird sat atop what I swear was a leopard atop the closest bookshelf. To my right was a large fireplace with a cauldron bubbling happily. Directly in front of me was a dark wooden table with four lavishly decorated chairs. In one of those chairs sat a sullen looking Ellinoria.
“You know that we… the gods are nothing but directors interpreting the script someone else made. You know we are bound by what we can and cannot do. You even know that we are not truly immortal.”
I nodded slowly as if agreeing. Most of what she said I could guess from what I read, but here she was confirming it.
“Mortals think the pantheon is a great all knowing all powerful thing. But we are not. We are nothing more than puppet masters pulling at strings and hoping to get the results we desire.”
A low deep melodic voice purred from behind me, “Don’t listen to her, little Dungeon. She is a goddess of Fae and there is nothing the Fae love more than feeling sorry for themselves.”
Both Ellinoria turned to see the new arrival. When I saw the woman standing there I did a double take, then looked at Ellinoria and back again. This new woman looked exactly like Ellinoria but yet still different. Wait! I could actually see Ellinoria now! She was not covered in mist anymore.
Ellinoria had a dark sun kissed complexion. Long golden blonde hair that fell down her back. Her heart shaped face held amazingly deep blue almond shaped eyes, rose colored lips, and a cute button nose. From what I could see she had a tall athletic form with ample curves in the right places and she was proportioned just as I had imagined from my brief touch.
This new woman was an exact copy with a few notable exceptions. First instead of sun touched skin, the new woman’s… goddess I corrected myself there was no doubt about that little fact. Her skin was snow white like it had never seen a speck of light. Her hair likewise was pure white. Not the grey of age. No this was fresh snow white. Her eyes were dark red, the color of dried blood. Her lips a pale blue like they had never known warmth. Where Ellinoria wore an elegant looking white toga. The new Goddess wore a black one.
“Noria why are you here!” Ellinoria hissed sounding alarmingly cat like.
“Shh sister… I felt you go fishing into the mortal realm and I wanted to see what you caught.”
Noria was looking at me appraisingly up and down. I could not tell if she was judging me to fuck or eat, but either way it gave me the shivers.
“This is no concern of yours. He is my love.”
“Of Course it is my concern when my twin sister pulls the soul of a dungeon to her home. Especially when it is one you call love.” Noria said the last word with more scorn than I thought any one word could hold. “Wait, how is it that this soul is here? How come it is looking at us and not dissolving into little bloody bits. Tasty meaty bits…”
Alarmed at the turn in conversation I stepped away from the dark goddess. Her eyes never left me though. Nora’s gaze shifted from looking at me to looking through me. I felt an energy flow through me and my mind. Before I even fully understood that something was moving inside of me, it was gone.
“Oh how delicious darling sister! To think your little Court of Life would stoop so low as to pull a soul from another reality. Then you managed to sneak that soul into one of our Dungeon Cores.”
Ellinoria was suddenly beside me gripping tightly to my arm. “You cannot tell your court! If the others found out that the Death Court discovered it and I was the leak…” She trailed off shivering.
I opened my mouth to say something. Maybe to defend Ellinoria, or threaten this other goddess. Really I had no ideas; I’m so far out of my comfort zone here that anything I did would have consequences that I did not understand.
I was saved from finding out by a single delicate cold finger placed lightly upon my lips. “Shh mortal let the Gods speak. Now sister, I have no intention of running your little secret.”
“You don’t? Oh thank you Nor…”
“Of course not. If I told how would I blackmail you with it, silly.”
Ellinoria’s inane babble cut off and the goddess stiffened upon my arm again. In a hard voice far removed from any I had ever heard the bubbly goddess use before she asked, ‘And what pray tell do you want, sister.”
Noria stepped back moving her hand from my lips but grabbing my hand in the process. “Oh and the claws come out finally!” She giggled. The sound of which sent shivers down my spine and brought me to full mast at the same moment. “I do not want much, we are twins after all.”
“But…” Ellinoria started to respond but Noria cut her off.
“”We are twins and twins share everything!” With a wickedly beautiful smile and a quick jerk Noria placed my hand upon her supple mountain peak.
Ellinoria snarled and jumped at her sister claws extending from previously perfectly manicured nails. I never noticed though; I was screaming as cold washed all over my body at once tingling and numbing. Both of my lives flashed before my eyes then I began to fall.