I floated a meter or two above the ground, facing the darkening and growingly obscured view of the world outside. A storm was approaching. I was barely paying attention to that tho, having spent the last few hours just thinking about my dungeon and what I wanted. For a few of those hours I watched the calm white and barren field start to stir at the start of the encroaching storm wondering about the rest of the world. For parts of this time I watched the still growing plum of smoke, wondering if a great fire had struck this frozen place, or a town rested just out of view. I then spent another few hours watching my creations and the dungeon, adding a bit of character with crafted rocks and stalactite formations? That's the one on the roof right?

But I finally rested back at the entrance to my small domain and opened the statues windows, first trying to ply any new information from them. Only one little and odd surprise showed itself. Hidden below the creatures I could summon, was a option to summon plants, or plants as only lichen was possible to be summoned. What little this stirred in my mind was that it wasn't truly a plant, but was being treated as one.

As the storm drew ever nearer, the sunlight dimmed from the dark clouds. The streak of smoke that had piqued my curiosity for the last few days vanished in the winds and snow fall. What caused me to retreat back into the dungeon was the cold that gnawed at myself, my consciousness. Only by leaving and trekking deeper in to my dungeon did I find relief in my own warmth. Half way down the tunnel to my dungeon, I stopped and decided to summoned a patch of lichen on the wall. After the mana was collected in my control, I started to weave the simple patch of life. I spent a few moments and mana, making it slightly more resilient and soft. Smiling in my formless way, I started once more into the deeper part of my home.

As I travelled into the darker portion of the dungeon, I wondered if adding light would make it better. Thinking about the two other creatures I could summon, one seemed perfect, that being the Willow of the hearth. I soon arrived in the main chamber, seeing my earth elemental staying stone still at the centre of the room, seemingly watching the tunnel I had came from dutifully. I floated behind it at the far wall, thinking about how I wanted the willow of the hearth to interact with the dungeon. Should it rest at the top of chambers like small suns? Maybe as living torches that stay in small alcoves at the sides of the chambers. They could be another creature that defends me, going from room to room.

Its as I settled deep in thought, thinking of my choices, was when the winter wind started to blow into the dungeons mouth, slowly travelling down the tunnel. In response warmth surged from my core, as if to send the wind back. Only it was just the challenge, the herald of what was to come. I had just started to call on my mana to start to the creation of a willow, when the howl of a wolf caught my attention. I froze mid working, mana condensed and ready to be woven, as I felt something enter my dungeon. For those wee hours that morning I spent watching to frozen field, I had never seen another sign of life. Could this be a fluke, or trick? That small hope was quickly dashed as two more things scurried in, running past the first and straight down the tunnel.

That was when I realized how cold it was, how my heat was slowly ticking down as these things walked the dungeons tunnels. My instincts screamed to be rid of these intruders, to once more be collecting heat. I nudged the elemental to action, with a order to stop the intruders. I then called on the gnomes, guiding them to the entrance of the first chamber. After a few moments I started to weave, mana slowly taking its place in the shape of an orb, filling with magical filaments. My eyes might be cast to my work, but my focus was on the action taking place else wher. The two small things seemed to be mice or rats, while the first was indeed a wolf, if made of ice.

The mice passed the elemental, and due to its size it couldn't protest, so instead continued its march. Once the wolf caught sight of the elemental, it charged, leaping at the animated rock. As it landed, it found itself not pinning the thing, but caught in its raised arms. It started to hug the frozen beast without mercy. The faint crackle of breaking ice echoed own the tunnel. By the time the mice reached the gnomes, the wolf had broken free from the hug. It had bitten onto a stone in left arm, shattering it and almost disconnecting the whole arm. As it back peddled down the tunnel for space once it was free, the elemental collected its energy, stabilizing its arm.

As the largest beings in the dungeon faced off, the smallest started their own skirmish. The gnomes used magic to distract and confuse their opponents, throwing a bare fist if they grew close. They didn't even chip the ice mouse's shells, squeaking in irritation at their foes. It was almost a stalemate, if not for the fact the mice's teeth could cut flesh. The gnomes quickly realized the disadvantage in the fight, one gripped by fear, while the female was boiling with rage. A large cut from a mouse's tail ran up their arm, wet and frailer then before.

As I watched, I realized I couldn't stand by. Letting the willows mana finish by itself, I reached out, shaping the floor behind the gnomes, raising two pillars. I slowly warped and shaped the pillars into crude clubs. Once I felt satisfied with my work, I broke them free from the tunnel's floor, causing a clanking sound to ring from behind the fighting. A red pop up filled my vision for a moment.

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Stone Crafting: The ability to work stone into desired shapes with a purpose such as weapons, tools and furniture.

I quickly cast it from my vision, not even reading it before it became a few cinders scattering in the cold breeze. The male gnome was casting a spell that covered their small section of the dungeon in a dark shadow. I then guided the female to my latest work just outside the dark mass. As she picked one up, she swung it, looking like a cave woman. I reached out to her, mind, touching mind. “Use these to beat the mice back, stay safe.” I urged, finding it alien and odd to communicate once more. The gnome nodded, taking the other club and ran back into the pitch black in the dark tunnel, calling and screeching for their companion.

While one struggle of conflict raged, another was reaching its apex. The wolf was being beaten back. Each punch by the Simmental's good arm caused ice to shatter. The wolf found it hard to find any purchase on the stone creature, with it either huddling to prevent suck purchase or a punch warding it off. A few bites made it through the earth entanglement's defences, but none found a critical stone like the first. It was as the wolf got its fourth bite in, and the elemental's seventh punch, that the fight changed. The stone fist struck a crack riddled section of the wolf's right flank causing the ice to give, chips of it falling to the dungeons floor. To the dungeons surprised, snow filled the beast, only it shined with a eldritch pale light. Soon reality came back as a drop of water fell from the wolf's wound, hope pounding in my core.

The gnomes had regrouped as the overwhelming dark cleared, twilight just showing them wielding weapons of stone. They charged, the mice froze in confusion for a moment. In the next they charged back, stone and ice meet, shards and blood flew as they all thrashed against the others. Faint war cries from each filled the air of the tunnel, it felt like hours and not minutes that the first fearful squeak sounded. The fight stopped as all four looked to one mouse, front leg shattered and its primordial water dripping from the wound, diluting some blood cast to the stone. The gnomes jumped a moment after the pause in the fighting. The female brought her club down on the injured mouse's head, with a chilling crunch, ice chipped off and trickles of water formed. It fell back, letting its twin try to take on the small humanoids.

As each of the conflicts in my dungeon slowly fell into a one sided fights, I finished the willow of the hearth. Warm light was cast into the main chamber, the rocks and stalactites casting shadows on the wall. With a nudge it drifted down the tunnel, surprisingly, swaying in the faintly chill breeze that blew in.

When it reached the beaten and broken mice, it lashed out with a small bolt of fire, the size of a pebble. But when it hit the last animate mouse, it boiled past the ice and into its core, steam poured from the hole as it collapsed. The last was put down by the gnomes. Finally the wolf finally seemed to bleed out as most of its snow core melted or was cast to the dungeon's walls.

The winds seemed to be sucked out of my home, back into the storm once the last beast stopped moving. Warmth once more was generated, starting to melt the intruders. My denizen's started to make their way back to the main chamber. Seeing the two injured gnomes, I quickly started to weave another bed of lichen, hidden behind a large stone at the back end of the chamber. They laid down in the greyish green matter, leaving me hoping I had made it soft enough for them to relax. It wasn't a flawless victory for us. My earth elemental while still mostly remained in its shape was still broken in places. The gnomes lay tired and wounded, with a bit of warmth and mana, I knew it would heal them thanks to Mana Manipulation. Finally i watched the willow almost dance and sway with a hidden gust, as it trailed through the chamber, casting dancing shadows over the three other denizens.

Once more I went to the mouth of my home and looked out. The black and foreboding clouds had become grey, the winds had calmed and the snow had let up. As I looked to the mostly unchanged world, I notice one thing that chilled me to my core. The smoke plum just beyond the hills had seemingly been snuffed out, only faint and individual smoke trails seemed to remain. The idea of it being a town now send an ache through me. I had creatures to protect me... what did that town have?

Status

Name: ???

Race: Dungeon Soul

Level: 1

Age: 3 Day

Floors: 1

Denizens: 4

Mana: 93

Heat: 437

Mana Per Hour: 8

Heat Per Hour: 14

Titles: Lost Soul

Skills: Sentience, Dungeon Manipulation, Create Creature, Heat Manipulation, Mana Manipulation, Stone Crafting