**Liverpool, England**
A man in a black and white tuxedo held the door to the casino open. “Thank you for visiting, please visit again.”
Hansel grunted and stumbled out the grand entry. He looked at his empty and internally swore at himself. WHY?! JUST WHY CAN’T I STOP THIS DAMN ADDICTION?! He kicked a stray beer can, trying to let his anger out for losing all his work money by gambling with the slot machines.
Hansel looked up at the dark and cloudy sky. He felt something cold and wet roll down the side of his cheek. Wiping the side of his face with his hand he thought out loud. “What to do now?” He brought his fingers to his lips and gave them a tentative lick expecting a salty taste. His eyes widened as he tasted the thick and slightly metallic substance. Quickly bringing his hand in front of his eyes he squinted at the small red smear on his fingers.
BLOOD? He internally screamed. Th-they found me already? They should still be in Argentina! Hansel started to walk briskly down the street, glancing around at the rooftops in hopes of finding the one who shot at him.
---
After a frightening walk that seemed to take hours, Hansel finally arrived in front of the Hotel he was staying in. He took one final look around down the street before opening and stepping through the double doors into the hotel. As Hansel walked slowly into the lobby, he looked around. The receptionist’s desk was empty and the rest of the lobby was devoid of sound.
“Hello?” He tentatively called out, hoping that there was someone else. Then that is when it hit him. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head as a hard and cold metal surface knocked him unconscious.
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**Dungeon God’s residence, Egalia’s domain of Gods**
“Hello, Mister Carcerem Deus?” A soft and desperate voice said between frantic knocks. “I have urgent news!” The one the voice belonged to was a supposedly young maiden, but anyone who knew better would know she as old as some of the middle aged worlds. Her hair could make any man gape as it was a long braid of silver hair that matched the moon. She wears a white and red toga that ever so slightly brushes the floor as she walks. On the toga a little embroidered name of gold rested above her left breast, it read Udel.
Udel was starting to wince each time she rasped the door, as her knuckles started to become raw. She heard a wooden chair being pushed along stone ground. After a little pause and another knock Udel heard heavy footsteps drawing closer to the door.
The steps ceased and a small wooden window slid open to reveal two golden eyes staring at her. “What is so important that you must stand at the door to my workshop for a full hour?” Udel jumped a bit at the gruff demanding voice before quickly composing herself before reaching into her sleeve and pulling out a blue scroll towards the door.
“The scrying division has requested your presence for… something… I am sorry. I was not told anything more than to tell you that this scroll has more details.” She looked down at her the floor.
Udel jumped when she heard the door creak and moan as it slowly opened in its obviously ancient hinges. Udel looked at the one holding the door open, she stared in awe as saw the two golden eyes stared at her expectantly. She could get lost in those pearls, the way seemed to draw her soul in. She saw endless oceans and land masses behind those eyes... “Well, are you coming in or not? I don’t have old day mind you.” Carcerem Deus snapped, which brought Udel back to reality. She blushed in embarrassment before stepping through the door while bowing.
Udel looked up at the room and seemed to lose herself again in the wonders that fell before her. Rows of bookshelves that contained all sizes and colours of books imaginable. She looked at a few titles as she followed Carcerem Deus down towards a small desk. Dragon Etymology, Mountain Beholder behaviour, Goblin Evolutions. Udel continued to look around not realizing that the one she had been following stopped. She bumped into him which caused Udel to realize where she was. She finally eyed the one she rammed into, a tall red skinned man, he wore a sleeveless shirt and baggy brown pants.
He slowly turned around looking down at Udel with annoyance. Her eyes widened as if she just realized the severity of her actions. She began to apologise before he cut her off. “Alright what is it that the useless clumps of dirt want this time? A new scrying pot, maybe a sacrifice?” He sat down and took the blue scroll that Udel had not processed was still in her clutch. “Do not touch anything, do not move from the spot you are standing, and most importantly do not say a single god damned thing while I am busy writing back to the buffoons. Udel opened her mouth to reply, but promptly closed it after seeing a grey crystal ball surrounded by piles of notes on the table behind Carcerem Deus.
Seeing her eyes dart to his latest project, Carcerem smiled and set down the scroll on the table and decided to enlighten her for a bit.”he turned around and pointed at the ball. ”My little project intrigue you does it?” Udel nodded furiously, which made Carcerem to grin wildly before continuing. “This little sucker here is what the mortals down on Egalia call a dungeon core. Every dungeon on that world has a core, without them the dungeons would just vanish upsetting the balance of the entire world. You see, dungeons are outlets and storage devices designed by yours truly the God of Dungeons to contain and release mana, the essence of all living things in that world.” Udel felt a bit of drool forming on the corner of her mouth as she drank all that information up. Carcerem chuckled softly. “This one here is still in the development stage. Before you interrupted me, all I had left to do was add its ability to access the menu a normal dungeon core does. Well enough of that, let's see what is so important to stop me from completing my work.” He finished while sighing.
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While her god was unfurling the scroll, Udel stared at the dungeon core on the table. She wondered when she would be allowed to create her own and release it out onto the world she was going to help keep balance to. Udel fiddled with her toga a bit while remembering her role here. She had to learn how to make a dungeon core, and then return to her world of Ransol. Her companions all had wished her good luck and she had joined countless other up and rising ‘Gods of Dungeons’ to learn how to create a core.
A loud thump brought her out of her thoughts. “THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS! I MUST PROCEED TO THE SCRYING ROOM AT ONCE! FOLLOW ME YOUNG UDEL, I SHALL SHOW YOU HOW TO CRAFT THE PERFECT DUNGEON CORE!” Carcerem stood abruptly and rushed out of the workshop at a breakneck speed. Udel excitedly hurried out of the room following the loud boisterous laughter. As she looked back one more time at the dungeon core before she left the room, she failed to notice that it was rolling slowly towards the edge of the table, where a large black cauldron was waiting. She turned and ran down the hall towards the scrying room, forgetting all about her world and all the problems it had.
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The clear contents of the cauldron bubbled ferociously as the dungeon core slowly rolled to the edge in which the cauldron waited hungrily. The core reached the side and promptly rolled over the side plopping down into the cauldron with a loud splash. Inside the cauldron, the liquid started to simmer down from boiling, allowing any onlooker to witness the process that happened next, the core started to fizzle out of existence with a glimmer and sparkle of grey light. Once the core completely disappeared, the cauldron quieted once more.
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**Liverpool, England**
Hansel woke up with a groan and winced as he felt the pain from being hit on the back of his head. He tried to rub the back of his head but quickly noticed that his hands were tied around his back. Hansel looked up from the floor and saw what he feared most. “Hello sly Hansel. Thought you could escape us, right? Well luck has run out for you. This hotel here was actually owned by my company. Imagine my surprise when I heard that a man that was rumored to be in Argentina rented one of my VIP rooms in England.” The man in front of Hansel was smiling wildly which showed both his real teeth and his golden teeth. He was wearing a large leather overcoat that just seemed to scream mafia. The man’s sunglasses did not help either, especially how they blocked his eyes from view with those dark tinted lenses. Hansel opened his mouth, but the man cut him off. “Well, do you have anything left to say? This chase had gone on for years now and I was quite frankly getting bored.”
Hansel grinded his teeth before declaring, “Good for you for catching me, I was starting to get bored as well.” Hansel spat, “If I have one last request, it would be to give this life up for a new one. One where I do not have to deal with conspiracies that focus on killing me.” At his surprise a blue box appeared before his eyes, “
Do you wish to start a new life in a new world where you can play an important part in sustaining the world? Your life in this world is about to end soon, choose quickly.
Yes?
No?
Hansel stared at the screen in front of him trying to understand where it came from, he heard the Mafia Boss’ voice start to quiet down as he focused on the words. He felt a tap on the side of his head as he registered that a gun was now pushed against him. His eyes widened at the realization of the scenario. “YES, I ACCEPT!” Hansel yells out.
Hansel starts to lose consciousness for the first time as he hears his last words on Earth: “I am glad you accepted your death, now run along to the depths of Hell.” A loud resounding bang could be heard all throughout the hotel, but not one person was there to hear the end of Hansel’s life on Earth.
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**Scrying Room, Dungeon God’s Residence**
Udel watched the hustle and bustle from the safety of the door frame as the mages all ran around trying to get certain jobs done. She watched as Carcerem seemed to be talking to a blue wisp above an altar in the middle of the cramped room. She watched as Carcerem turned and motioned for the wisp to follow him. She kept a straight smiling face as she greeted the wisp, but inside, her mind was doing cartwheels and somersaults. She began to feel flushed as she tried not to stumble over her words. OHMYGOSH, THIS IS A PERFECT DUNGEON CORE? HOW, HOW, HOW DOES IT WORK? She thought to herself. Carcerem walked out of the room and left the mages to do their business. HE paused for a moment before beckoning Udel to follow. OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH, AM I GETTING TO SEE HOW A PERFECT CORE IS GOING TO BE FINALIZED? She started skipping after Carcerem, completely dropping her poker face.
---
For the whole walk back to the workshop, Udel had been questioning the wisp about where it came from and what it had done there. She learned all sorts of new things, such as metal containers that could move without magic through the sky and small metal boxes that could fit in your hand that could supply you with all the information in the world. When they reached the workshop Udel had quickly quieted down despite her avalanche of unanswered questions.
“Alright Hansel, follow me. I will be preparing and altering your soul in order for you to operate as a functioning dungeon in Egalia.” Udel looked quizzically at Carcerem Deus, but remained shut in fear of losing her chance to learn how to polish a core directly from the God of Dungeons himself.
Throughout the process, Udel had been taking notes as Carcerem explained the process of altering a soul. By the time he had finished and was preparing to find a cave for the wisp that called itself Hansel to settle in. She blurted out the question that had been bugging her, “Why is Hansel not in a core?” Carcerem looked at her in surprise, then loosened up as he laughed and wheezed.
“I guess that is a reasonable question, young Udel.” Carcerem managed through breathes. “Well you see, a dungeon core is really just a catalyst for growing the dungeon’s soul to maturity. But Hansel here already is a mature soul that only needs a bit of altering to function properly.” Udel gaped at the god that was smiling before her. Unable to comprehend what he said, Udel tried to write down the mind-blowing concept down.
“Wait, I do not need a core?” Hansel asked perplexed. The wisp seemed to shimmer in confusion, and Udel could not help but nod in agreement to the question.
“No, you do not Dungeon Hansel. The size of a dungeon does not define its maturity, the size of the core does. However since you are already a mature soul, the whole dungeon will be your core.” Carcerem smiled wildly. He turned to Udel, “Aren’t you a lucky lass, young Udel. You learned a secret that only twenty others know about at my residence.”
Udel nodded vigorously before returning to looking and add to her notes. She heard small chatter between Carcerem and Hansel, but she drowned it out to focus on her notes.
A loud clatter and gasp was heard and Udel looked up to see Carcerem frantically moving the papers and tools on his desk around while looking for something. She squinted at the table before realizing what was missing she brought her free hand to her mouth and gave a loud gasp before exclaiming, “The unfinished core is gone!”
Carcerem whipped around to glare at Udel. He relaxed his face a bit, before a brilliant idea burst into his head. “Young Udel, since you know what the core looks like, I will send you to Egalia and search for it.” Udel eyes widened in fright. The mortal realm? How will I be able to do anything with my powers limited? She quickly looked back out the door to see if there was someone able to save her. Once she realized there was no one to save her, she looked back and found Carcerem smiling devilishly at her.
“Young Udel, I will be looking for a place for Hansel to settle down as a dungeon. Once I have, I will tell you where to go in order to return to my workshop.” His smile faltered for a second before continuing. “Once you have retrieved the core, and brought back here. I will personally train you to be able to create dungeon cores for you dying world of Ransol.” Udel perked up a bit and her eyes gleamed of determination and excitement. “Well young Udel, I bid you farewell!” Carcerem snapped his fingers and caused Udel’s vision to go dark.