At last, Aster reached the boss room. He staggered up to the entrance, breathing heavily. Putting his back against the wall, he took a deep breath and wiped his mouth, gathering himself for a final push. I didn’t see anything wrong yet. No natural disasters, no bandits or stupid adventurers doing stupid things… what’s causing this dungeon to go wrong?

Only the boss chamber’s left. It’s got to be something in there. If not… Aster grimaced. Dammit, if not, then I’ll be forced to admit I’m still far from a Dungeon Keeper. But I’ll never learn if I don’t plunge into messed-up dungeons and figure out what’s wrong!

He peeked around the corner into the boss chamber. Immediately, the scent of rot smacked him in the face. Aster flinched back. Instinctively, he yanked his shirt back over his nose, then dared another look.

Luminous crystals grew from the corners of the floor and the walls, blooming like flowers on a vine. Where there were no crystals, bare brown stone curved and swooped, soft like a liquid frozen in place. In places, the crystals were shattered, scattered over the floor in loose chunks, still faintly glowing. Claw marks marred the soft-edged stone. Char and soot painted the floor and ceiling.

In the center of the room, an empty pelt slumped. It rotted slowly, oozing a puddle of brown-red fluid onto the stone. Scales spilled from the pelt, piling at its bottom. A few of the shattered blue crystals stained red where they met the puddle.

The boss hasn’t been scavenged or absorbed yet? Aster wondered, frowning at it. If delvers don’t remove it from the dungeon, the dungeon should absorb it on its own. So why hasn’t it?

He waited another few seconds, surveying the scene. No monsters… certainly no boss. I think it’s safe. He pushed off the wall, going to step out.

“Come out!” a high-pitched voice demanded.

Aster startled. He whipped around the wall and looked left and right. That tone… a child? There’s a little girl down here?

Overhead, a sharp crack rang through the cave. Aster dove forward. A crystal shattered down inches behind him, bits of blue crystal rolling across the floor. He climbed to his feet, concerned. “Come here! It’s dangerous here. Come to me, I’ll get you out of here!”

Forget the dungeon, the girl takes priority. I have to get her to safety!

How’d she even get down here? Fall? He peered up, searching for obvious gaps in the ceiling.

Above him, another crystal wobbled, threatening to fall.

Aster side-stepped the crystal seconds before it detached from the ceiling. He turned, searching the room again. “Can you come to me? Are you injured? Say something, I’ll come to you.”

“G-go away! Leave me alone!” the little girl shouted back, her voice trembling.

“It’s okay. I’ll take care of you. You’re safe now,” Aster promised gently. The ground shook under his feet. He nimbly jumped away. A crystal erupted through the ground where he’d been standing.

Is this some kind of feature of the boss room? Maybe the corpse is a decoy, and the true danger are these crystals! Aster sucked a breath, suddenly worried. No wonder she can’t come to me! If she moves, the crystals will attack her! I need to find her, and quickly.

“I’m coming to you. Can you say something?” Aster asked. He kept his eyes on the floor, listening for the telltale crack of a crystal falling off the ceiling.

“No. Go away!” the girl shouted.

Crack. Aster dodged to the side. The floor trembled, and he threw himself forward. I wonder what she’s been through, to be so distrustful of me. Did someone take her here? Abandon her in the boss room? But… why? “Keep talking. Go on!”

“No! I won’t!”

He darted across the room, dancing left and right to dodge the crystals. Slowly, he drew closer to the stone part of the wall. Aster’s brows furrowed. There aren’t a lot of places to hide. Is she behind the crystals…

Abruptly, the girl cried out again. “Don’t touch it!”

Aster jumped back, startled. He looked around, then glanced at the ground. The ruined hide laid on the floor near him. A tiny scrap of it laid inches from his feet.

Is she worried for me? Aster smiled. Gently, he said, “It’s alright. It isn’t dangerous anymore.” He knelt and reached out for it.

The floor all around him began to shake. Aster threw himself into the air, flipping backward to cover more ground. A dozen crystals burst through the floor all around where he’d been standing.

“I understand! The crystals attack when someone disturbs the body. Thank you for the warning. Luckily, I’m strong,” Aster reassured her.

“That’s—not—” the girl complained, frustrated. A thump rang out from a small lump in the wall.

Aster froze. The crystals froze. Everything stopped moving.

“Is that where you are? I’m on my way!” Aster pledged. He ran for the wall.

“It’s not, it’s not, it isn’t,” the girl insisted desperately, flustered. Crystals burst out behind Aster, so slow as to be no threat.

Reaching the wall, Aster leaned toward it and looked down it. The wall bulged out at his knee height, forming a sort of bubble. A narrow, book-spine-sized slot opened at the bubble's top. In the thin slit of light, a girl in a white dress and matching white leggings stared up at him. White hair curled down to her shoulders. Her dark blue eyes, a bare shade lighter than black, sparkled with tiny specks of silver light.

“Like stars,” Aster murmured, momentarily struck dumb.

“Don’t hurt me!” the girl screamed, covering her head.

“I won’t, I promise. Here.” Aster crouched beside the girl and smiled. “How’d you get in there, huh? You’re real stuck.”

The girl hesitated. She bit her lip, then glanced at Aster. “You didn’t kill the tiger.”

“Huh? No,” Aster said. How’s she know that?

Could it be?

“But you killed the rat,” she accused him.

Aster grimaced. He rubbed the back of his head. “I had no option. I didn’t want to kill any of the monsters, honestly.”

She looked at him. Her body shook. “Are you here to kill me?”

“Huh? No. I’m here to save you,” Aster said, frowning in confusion.

“But… the last people I saw killed mom,” the girl replied, trembling all over again.

No wonder she’s terrified! The last people… that would be the party that conquered the dungeon, right? I should launch an official inquiry into—

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I’m getting ahead of myself. That party is the first one to conquer the dungeon. How did a mother and daughter get to the boss room before them? Solo adventurers exist, but I know most of them, and none of them have young daughters they’d drag into dungeons with them. Who would?

If she wasn’t brought in by an adventurer, then… is she a monster? A mimic? A lure? Aster glanced around him, suddenly on guard.

Or… is she…?

The little girl shook harder. Her eyes widened in terror at his silence. She covered her head and hunched lower. “I don't want to die! Leave me alone!”

Overhead, a sharp crack rang out. Aster’s eyes widened.

A huge crystal hung over him and the girl, big enough to smash both of them to paste. A second crack rang out, then a third. The crystal wobbled.

“Shit!” Aster snapped. He drew his hammer.

The girl looked up, then did a double take. Her eyes got wide. She reached up, making a grabbing motion. The stone on the ceiling shifted, curling toward the crystal, but too late. With a final, earthshaking crack, it let go of the ceiling and plunged.

Aster held his breath. Time slowed down. One. Two.

He swung his hammer with all his might. The crystal shattered, and little bits of crystal flew everywhere. Aster raised his arms to protect himself from the worst of it. In the cleft, the girl cried out.

As the last of the crystal rained down, Aster whirled. “Are you okay?”

The girl nodded, hands clapped over her mouth. A small scratch opened on her face, just under her eye. Blood oozed out.

“That’s no good. Come on, let’s fix that. I’ve got a bandage here, and some disinfectant…” Aster dug through his bag, searching for the healing supplies.

The little girl frowned. “You… don’t want to kill me?”

“Why would I? Come on out of there. You can do that, right, Dungeon Spirit?” Aster said, smiling at the girl. When she manipulated the stone, it became obvious. She’s the one who controls the dungeon, the dungeon core’s caretaker, the Dungeon Spirit!

She stared at him. “Huh?”

“Eh? Are you not a Dungeon Spirit?” Aster asked.

The girl shook her head. “What’s that?”

Aster blinked at her, lost. Where to start… “Dungeon Spirits are… er, they’re… well, most people consider them a myth. They’re mysterious beings that manage dungeons—their spawns, the bosses, the various rooms and biomes… they’re all controlled by the Dungeon Spirit, who possesses the dungeon core. Some say Dungeon Spirits are born from the dungeon core, while some argue that Dungeon Spirits and dungeon cores are fundamentally one and the same. Well, dungeon cores are also considered a myth by some people, so—”

The girl blinked at him blankly.

“Uh, I’m rambling. Sorry. First, why don’t you come on out, so I can treat that scratch?” Aster offered, holding up an antiseptic and a bandage.

The girl hesitated, then pressed her hand against the wall of the stone bulge. It drew back, releasing the girl from the wall. Her white hair barely reached her shoulders, the first sign of a wave in its last inches. She stepped out of the bubble and stood in front of him, big eyes wide, revealing a blue crystal pattern stitched into the bottom hem of her simple dress as she climbed free. Bare feet tentatively found a safe place to step amid the shattered crystal.

“You aren’t going to kill me?” she asked again, nervous.

“No,” Aster promised. He knelt and brushed the crystal away from her feet. Turning to her face, he carefully dabbed some antiseptic on the cut. “It’s just a scratch. That should be enough for it to heal up safely.”

“Not… like the people who killed Momma?” she asked.

“Momma?” Aster queried.

The girl pointed behind him. “Mom.”

Aster whirled, half-expecting some horrific monster to loom over his shoulder, but the rotting hide was all he found. He blinked. “The… the final boss?”

“The dragon. She was the first thing I saw, so she was Mom,” the girl declared.

Aster put a hand on his chin. Are Dungeon Spirits born from final bosses? But no, fundamentally, final bosses are born from Dungeon Spirits. Or at least dungeon cores, which form Dungeon Spirits… anyways. More likely, she imprinted on the dragon as her mother, rather than the final boss birthing her. In return, the final boss likely instinctively understood her as something it had to protect, and watched over her until she grew old enough to look after herself.

Or… would have, if those adventurers didn’t conquer the dungeon.

Wait. Does this explain everything?

Aster turned to the girl with a smile. “You’re the one in control of this dungeon?”

She nodded, still wary. Her hands curled in her skirt, clenching tight. Under her breath, she muttered, "I am now."

“Did you send all the bosses to the front of the dungeon?”

The girl nodded. “I don’t want anyone to get in. All they do is kill my friends, my mom… everyone. I don’t want to see people die anymore.”

Aster heaved a deep breath. Ah. I think I understand, now. Those adventurers killed the final boss, but they didn’t realize they were leaving behind a scared little girl to control the dungeon all alone. Without her mom or anyone to protect her, wouldn’t she try to protect herself? But she’s young. She doesn’t understand how to properly set up a dungeon, how spawns work, anything. So she tries to prevent any more of her friends—er, monsters— from dying, by making it impossible to enter the dungeon at all.

A natural reaction, really. She just lost the only thing she had to act as a parent. She’s scared and alone, with power she doesn’t understand how to wield. But at this rate, she’s going to starve herself to death. People need dungeons, and dungeons need people. She can’t survive without adventurers and delvers.

Aster closed his eyes. I can fix this. It won’t be easy, but I’m a future Dungeon Keeper. I know more about dungeons than anyone. As a future Dungeon Keeper, I won’t let this dungeon starve itself to death in front of me!

He opened his eyes. The girl jumped and stumbled back, startled by the intensity in his gaze.

Aster smiled. “My name’s Aster. Do you have a name?”

The girl hesitated. She shook her head.

Aster pointed at his eyes. “Your eyes look like they have stars in them. Can I call you Stella? It means ‘star.’”

“Stella?” The girl murmured it to herself a few times, then nodded.

Aster beamed. “Stella. You’re a Dungeon Spirit, right? You have a dungeon core?”

“A dungeon core? This?” Stella put her hands to her chest and drew them away. A dark orb emerged from her chest, just large enough to fit in Aster’s hands if he cupped both together. A single mote of light burned deep in its core, and even that faded.

Aster bit his lip. She’s already that close to death. This isn’t going to be easy.

A smile crawled over his face. Ha! Has that ever stopped me before? I’m a rare solo adventurer with no capacity for magic! I’m a future Dungeon Keeper! ‘Difficult’ is my middle name!

Aster held his hand out to Stella. “Stella. I’m going to help you rebuild this dungeon. Together, we’re going to make it bigger and better than it was before, and a safe place for all your friends to live. But you’re going to have to trust me. Do we have a deal?”

Stella looked at his hand, uncertain. Her dark eyes flicked to his face. “Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why do you want to help me? Don’t humans only come into dungeons to kill?” Stella asked. Her hands latched onto the core and held it tight, her fingertips turning pale from her grip.

“Aside from the rat, and I’m very sorry about that, did I kill any of your friends?” Aster asked.

Stella hesitated. She shook her head.

“I can’t say anything for humanity, but… can you at least trust that I’m here to help you?” Aster offered his hand again, holding it a little closer to her.

“You…” Stella bit her lip. She looked at him, the pinpricks of light in her dark eyes flashing. “If you saw Momma, and she tried to kill you… would you have tried to kill her?”

Aster took a deep breath. A lie came to the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it down. Kids aren’t as dumb as they look. If I lie to her now, she’ll never trust me. His eyes dipped. “Yes.”

Stella gasped. She staggered back. Overhead, a series of cracks rang out.

Forcing himself not to jump up or run away, Aster met Stella’s eyes again. “But only out of self-defense. I never kill monsters for fun. If I had the option to avoid killing, I would.”

“And if you have no choice?” Stella asked, her voice shaky.

“Then I kill. The same as Stella,” Aster said gently.

Stella jolted. “I…?”

Aster pointed up. “The crystals, right? They’re your self-defense. You’re scared, and you have no final boss to protect you anymore, so you tried to kill me, right?”

Stella glanced down guiltily. She nodded.

Aster smiled. “Then we’re the same, right? And I can trust you. Can you trust me?”

A pale hand reached out. Delicate as a butterfly’s kiss, it took Aster’s. Stella looked up, meeting his eyes. “I want to get strong. I want to protect my friends. I want to keep myself safe. You can do that?”

“I can do that,” Aster promised. Can I do that? No. I have to. This girl only has me to rely on. How can I turn away?

Somewhere deep inside him, a little voice cried out in excitement. They’re real, they’re real, Dungeon Spirits are real! I knew it, I knew it. All those years ago, when I was lost, that girl, she was, she was, she was—!

Unable to repress a smile, Aster gripped that cold hand and rose to his feet. “Stella. Shall we go see your dungeon?”

“Go… into the dungeon?” Stella asked. She looked down at her core. “But I can see it all from here…”

“It’s not the same as seeing it in person, is it?” Aster guessed.

Stella shook her head. She pressed the core back into her body and swallowed. “Momma said to never leave this room.”

Momma said? The dragon could talk?

Aster shook his head at himself. More likely, this girl has a way to communicate with monsters. She’s communicating with me despite having no opportunity to learn the common language, after all. “I’m here now. I’m not a final boss, so I can leave this room. No matter where we go, I can keep you safe. Will you trust me?"

Stella’s hand tightened on his, but she didn’t pull back. She hesitated.

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life in this room and never leave? Or do you want to see the world?" Aster asked.

Stella looked down at her chest, where the core hid, then back at him. "I want to see."

"Then come with me." He took a step forward.

Stella clenched her fists tight, but followed him. Together, they walked for the exit to the boss room.