“Huh Wuh, Guh. Where the hells am I!”
The estranged soul exclaimed to no one in particular
“calm down I need to calm down, the first rule of adventurer survival be calm and go over what you know”... “Firstly my name I need to remember my name… Marcus, Marcus Vitruvius. Now that I remember who I am let us see where in the hells I am. Seems to be some sort of strange black abyss”
The lost soul known as Marcus spun about in an ethereal way amongst the inky blackness attempting to find something anything to guide him but succeeding only in losing any orientation he once had.
“Well, I appear to be in the middle of literal nothingness. An interesting position to be sure but not quite conducive to any sort of getting my bearings straight. Well, let’s see if we can’t find our way out.”
Attempting rather fruitlessly to walk forwards Marcus finds no purchase seeing as he has no legs.
“Well, then I suppose I must be waiting here for something. At least I certainly hope so, floating around endlessly in a plane of pure inky blackness isn’t exactly what I had hoped for after death. I was kinda hoping more for an endless plane of beautiful women and drink.”
Outside of the inky black plane, a group of well-dressed people sat around a table. Numbering twelve in total the people appeared to be in a heated discussion.
“No, we will not use a still fully sentient soul for a Dungeon Core! The consequences would be terrifying!” argued one well-dressed gentleman adorned with a fedora.
A female in a low-cut revealing dress retorted “Well, we can’t just wash this soul of memories and put him back in the pool! It was our fault he died long before he was ever intended to. He should still be on the material plane leading a kingdom to prosperity right now, not dead and locked in a plane of darkness. We need to make this right.”
Finally, a large man wearing a tight-fitting suit and an eye-catching red tie stood, “We’ve heard about enough from both sides at this point; time for a vote, all in favor of reincarnating the soul as a dungeon?”
7 hands raised at the table including the man’s own.
“Then it seems this is decided the soul will be reincarnated as is into a Dungeon core, but as the safety of this action is of concern we will be sending a high-level magus of the God’s Consortium to monitor and teach it from the beginning. Does that allay your worries, Jericho?”
The man in a fedora known as Jericho simply nods limply before storming off.
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“Well, this’ll at least keep that twerp off my back for a while” Sighing the man in the red tie dismissed the rest of the table.
Back in the Plane of Eternal Blackness, Marcus was wistfully flailing around his arms.
“Alright that’s about enough of leaving you in here” came a strange calm sounding voice.
“Hello? Did someone just talk to me in this shitty plane of shitty darkness?”Marcus excitedly replied “Can you please get me the hells out of here this place really is the pits? Nothing to do but think and randomly move my arms around uselessly.”
Moments later Marcus found himself staring at what would be a blinding light if he actually had eyes. “Gods almighty that’s a bright light!” I suppose that just goes to show how dead I am now though. Marcus thought to himself.
“Well don’t keep me waiting Marcus sit down we need to talk.” Marcus now realizing he had legs strode forward to the modestly sized chair and took a seat.
Looking ahead he saw a massive throne made seemingly of solid steel, polished to a bright shine. In the throne sat an appropriately large man dressed in a clean and neat black suit with a bright red tie that used a steel tie bar to hold it in place. When Marcus looked at the man’s face all he found the silhouette of a chiseled square jaw and nothing else.
“Now that you are seated we can begin. First off let's get some basics out of the way so we don’t have to go in circles. You, Marcus Vitruvius, are dead. Now, normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem, but, you died long before you were supposed to and as such were pulled here so that the issue could be rectified.” The Man explained carefully.
“Great!” “Then you can resurrect me and I’ll be on my way, thank you goodbye!” said Marcus rapidly attempting to stand up.
“Not so fast boy.” the Man raised his hand and a pulling force sucked Marcus back into his chair.
“It is not quite that easy. See the dead are supposed to stay dead, even our priests are not allowed to bring back the dead. We gods don’t care to contradict ourselves that easily.” The Man stated “You will be going back to your world, but not as a human. You will become the first ever dungeon to use a resurrected soul as its base.”
“So, I, Marcus, am going to become the first intelligent dungeon?”
“No Marcus that would belittle the dungeons who have lived for thousands of years and developed intelligence far beyond any human. No, you are going to be the first Dungeon with a human soul.” The Man clarified.
Afterward, the Man began to slowly describe what was going to happen to Marcus. What Marcus should expect upon his revival as a dungeon, and what Marcus should do to ensure his short-term survival.
“Now, Marcus you may ask me three questions you wish answered before your revival.”
“Okay, First of all, what the hells is your name?”
“My name has changed over time, My first name was Kresimir, but in these days I am known as Lucius, God of Light” Well, that certainly explains the blinding light in this room, thought Marcus.
“Second question, why reincarnate me as a dungeon? Rather than a human again or some other creature?”
“As a dungeon, you will be able to serve your purpose far better than any other form. You will eventually lead to the creation of a country whose power unites the material plane, a very necessary event that will allow the plane to resist an oncoming catastrophe.” Lucius revealed, “You originally would have done this as a king, but we will have to settle with our second best option for a king. You will instead have to be the bedrock that keeps the kingdom afloat.”
“Then why not resurrect me as some nobles child? Or just put me back in my old body?”
“That would violate our rules of mortal resurrection. We gods decided as a group that any soul that is born into a mortal body must have no residue of a previous life. It must be a clean slate such that the decisions of the person that soul becomes determines its lot in the afterlife rather than any residual feelings left from previous lives. Putting you back in your body or in a new body would violate this.”
“But being put in a Dungeon Core wouldn’t?”
“We do not consider Dungeon Cores mortal as they live forever as long as they are not destroyed by an outside force. That is also the exact argument that allowed for your resurrection at all mind you.”
“Now then that is three questions, time for you to get to your new body. May we never meet again Marcus Vitruvius.” Lucius waved his hand and Marcus disappeared from the plane of light with an annoyed face. “May we never meet again, for if we do we will have far more problems than just resurrecting a soul that shouldn’t have died.”