A young man waits at the Rosenkruz guildhall for his party. The sunlight shining through the ornate windows in this warm autumn day. He looks around the cabin’s lobby and the people within. He witnesses a young dwarven girl arguing with another guest over the craftsmanship of her hammer. He finds a shy elf cleric looking at the receptionist as she talks to a man with a serpentine tail. He sees a horned man pass by, eating a hamburger as a peculiar girl approaches him.

“Sarah says she’s ready.” The purple-haired woman says.

“And Felicity?” the man asks.

“She says she’ll be out in a few minutes.”

The man looks at his reflection in the mirror. His staff in hand as he dons a baby blue suit with matching slacks. His brown hair contrasted both the suit and his verdant eyes.

“You never gave me your name,” the purple-haired woman said.

The boy realizes that he forgot to introduce himself. “So I didn't,” he says. “Name’s Maurice”

“You may call me Amelia,” the girl said.

Maurice notices something about Amelia that is strange. Her hair, done in a bob reminiscent of the flappers in Noir, gleamed with a metallic sheen. Her eyes were similar in luminescence. Maurice can tell that something is off with the woman, but his contemplation is interrupted when Sarah arrives.

“So Felicity’s still taking a while huh?” The dwarfette says.

“Indeed,” Maurice says. “Remind me again, why do you want to go to that strange building in the woods?”

“Been wanting to test this baby out,” Sarah wields her hammer. The black and silver weapon matched her dark skin and silver pigtails.

“I see,” Maurice says. “And you?”

Amelia tries to recall her reasons. Eventually, she says “I heard that this Dungeon carries some interesting materials.”

“That is what the rumors say,” Maurice says. “I was sent here by Fallow’s Technomancer’s Institute to confirm them.

“You guys talking about the dungeon,” a swordsman clad in bronze armor asks as he approaches them.

“About time you got here, Joe,” Maurice says to his friend.

“Sorry about that, traffic’s been a pain,” Joe says.

A young woman approaches them, the shy cleric from before. Her pointed ears pick up the conversation.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” the elf says.

“No worries, Felicity,” Maurice says.

“Yeah it’s not like we can start without Sir Runs-Late-a-Lot,” Sarah says.

“So are we ready?” Amelia says.

“Guess we are,” Maurice says.

The party of five makes their way towards their destination. A gigantic black building in a nearby forest, visible from the village.

✦✦✦

The building, huge and featureless, has wind ululating through its few orifices. Branches rap on the exterior as sunlight reflects off its gloss. It is unlike anything ever seen, yet Amelia and Sarah are unfazed.

“So, guess we find an entrance first,” Maurice says.

The group searches the exterior for ingress. Maurice has little luck, as he was unable to discern any doors from the black building. Felicity and Joe ended up distracted by a passing beast. Sarah and Amelia eventually find an entrance.

“This way,” Amelia says.

The group enters the dungeon, and discovers an even more alien landscape. Glowing purple designs line and illuminate the glossy black walls. The rooms were filled with strange machines and the walls shifted their position every several minutes.

“Guess that matches the rumors,” Joe says.

Amelia notices that Felicity is intimidated by the sight of the beings here. “Are you sure we are able to survive?” the elfin cleric says.

“Don’t worry,” Sarah says. “It’ll be fine.”

“I hope so,” the swordsman says. “I ’eard this place had chewed up many an adventurer and spat them out in the past month.”

“Apparently,” Maurice says. “This dungeon, called the ‘Black Box’, is home to what experts dub ‘nanotechnology’.”

“Nanotechnology?” Felicity says. “What’s that?”

“Some advanced stuff,” Joe says gruffly. “Even what we gleamed from the Messengers’ records claims it only existed in theory where they came from.”

“Shame we can’t ask them to specify,” Maurice says.

The group ventures forward into the dungeon. They find and encounter several machines, clad in ebon metal with silver highlights. Amelia and Sarah defeat them. After the fight, Felicity invoking the Administrator Hausos to heal their wounds. The group then makes their way through the shifting walls, and encounter more of the Cells. The machines were defeated by Joe. As they fall, they leave behind some coins, resembling the black and violet walls.

Maurice stares at the coins as Joe approaches him. “Think this is enough for their expedition?” Amelia and Sarah gaze at the two men, anticipating his response while Felicity notices webs on the wall.

“I don’t think the Institute would be satisfied with just this,” Maurice says. “Let’s keep moving.”

Amelia and Sarah exchange a glance. The party ventures forward. They soon find more webs. Maurice is reminded of something.

“I heard that some Arachne had relocated after the fall of Tarantulapolis,” Maurice says.

“Some left the nearby town of Websdale as well,” Amelia says.

“We should be on our guard,” Joe says. “Their poisons are nasty.”

“Tell me about it,” Sarah says, recalling an incident where she encountered several Arachne.

“You know they can hear you, right?” Amelia whispered. The dwarven girl is startled by the response.

Later they end up in a room covered with webbing. There they are ambushed by several Arachne. Although Maurice, Felicity, and Joe fight ferociously, Amelia and Sarah are pulling their blows, as if they do not want to harm the guardians. The Arachne meanwhile fight the party with their poisons and webs.

“Ignite!” Marice says as he slams his staff onto the ground. A fire sparks from the magical tool and lands on the webs, sending the silk ablaze. The Arachne are forced to disperse by the spell. The group finds more coins and makes their way forward. As they venture forth, Amelia looks back and notices a man clad in crimson behind her. The black and purple walls shift around him and he vanishes behind them.

She then looks back to her party, only to find they are unaware of the knight’s presence, as they begin gossiping about the Black Box. Sarah glances at Amelia and approaches her.

“How’s my brothers handiwork?” Sarah says.

“It’s fine,” Amelia says, knowing that she’s referring to her outfit. “He wasn’t kidding when he said I’d be unrecognizable.”

Maurice overhears them and joins in. “Unrecognizable huh?” he says.

“Yeah,” Amelia says while thinking of a more proper response. “He is a tailor and goldsmith. Said to want to be the kingpin of fashion.”

“Sounds interesting,” Maurice says. He gestures to his suit. “I bet he’d be pretty keen on Noir’s duds.”

“Oh he sure is,” Sarah says. She then notices a shadow at a corner behind them, seeming to be of similar stature to her.

“Perhaps you can introduce me later?” Maurice says.

“Doubt it,” Sarah says. “He’s a very busy man, isn’t he Amelia?”

“Oh, yeah. He is, he shouldn’t be around, last I heard.”

The shadow vanishes before Maurice could notice it. The trio then hears Felicity scream and make their way to her and Joe. Only to find they had found a giant spider. Clad in a silvery metal. The party realizes that this is a “Sentinel”, a boss, and prepare to confront it.

✦✦✦

In a different dungeon, two men fight a hoard of arisen skeletons.

“Haha, looks like the dead had come out for play, cher,” the older man said. He fends off the undead with a throw of his shield and a plunge of his longsword.

“Wonder whose to blame,” the younger man said, as he assumed a horse stance. “You were the one complaining about this being too easy.” He shatters some skeletons with well-timed shoulder and hip strikes. His orange and black hair flowed in the wind.

“Am I wrong Tim?” The knight says. “Treasure this valuable shouldn’t be left unattended. I was worried someone beat us to the loot.” He strikes down more of the hoard with his sword, blocking their counterattacks with his shield.

“You never did say what we came here for,” Tim says. He positions his fist into a rake-like form and strikes the knee of a skeleton, causing the bone to be displaced and the undead to fall.

“Later, cher,” The man says. “We have to clear this room out first.”

“Of course, Heathcliff,” Tim says. “Of course.”

The two coordinate their attacks to defeat the horde. With Tim’s well timed strikes paving the way for Heathcliff’s sword to cut through the assassins and Heathcliff’s shield blocking projectiles and attempts on the knight and his page. Soon the undead were no more. Heathcliff sheaths his sword and takes a rest. His red hair framed his satisfied smile.

“We’re here for a ring, y’see? The Guild had said there were rumors of enchanted rings in this place. And it turns out that someone with what we really after wanted to trade it for one of them.”

“What we’re really after,” Tim says. “You mean the Heartstone?”

Heathcliff gets up, revealing the scratches on his well-worn leather armor. “Of course,” he says. “The last piece we need for an avatara.”

“You mean besides a dungeon that needs one, of course,” Tim says.

“We’ll find ourselves for that in due time, cher,” Heathcliff says. “In fact, I heard rumors of a Divine Dungeon popping up just outside Rosenkreuz!”

“So,” Tim says, “Remind me again why you’re looking to be a Dungeon Master?”

Heathcliff walks towards a door. “Felt a change a pace was needed. Things were getting rather stale around here lately.”

The two men open the door and soon find several rings, each of them tended to by the crypt’s keeper and dungeon’s core. A neurotic man clad in a cloak who obsessively enchants the rings of his fallen victims. The necromancer notices the two challengers and panics before gaining composure and attempting to put on a bombastic display of threats and power.

“They never make it easy,” Heathcliff says as he and Tim prepare for battle.

The sorcerer summons another mob of undead to assist him, but the hoard was no match for the experienced knight and his bajilquan-trained page. The necromancer then attempts to casts spells, but Heathcliff’s shield blocks them, and eventually melts from the number of magical attacks. The core is soon knocked out by Timothy launching a vital blow on his nape.

With the necromancer knocked out for now, the two men help themselves to as many rings as they can and leave the crypt.

Later at a bar Heathcliff meets with his client, a wealthy man who is interested in the necromancer’s rings. Upon verifying the quality of the loot he agrees to trade his heartstones for them and hands Tim a bag of small heart-shaped rocks. Timothy notices they glow incandescently, as if filled with energy itself. The patron also threw in a gold coin as a bonus before leaving.

The two men celebrate their triumph over food and for Heathcliff, some alcoholic beverages.

“That is gonna end well,” Tim says. “I can see the radios telling of how the Crimson Knight got drunk and started a fight in the pub.”

“Cher,” Heathcliff says. “I’m insulted, when's the last time I made a brouhaha?”

“Last month,” Tim says, “after you claimed about the state of Charlemagne.”

Heathcliff remembers that event. “Ol’ Charlie. Place is still hanging on by a thread. I know a sinking ship when I sees it, but damn if I wish it hadn’t gotten to that point.” The liquor begins to sets in, which is Tim’s cue to ask for the check and escort Heathcliff out of here before he gets them into trouble.

“We have heartstone,” Tim thinks. “We have poppetwood and we have a mind gem. That means we have all the avatara parts.” He takes a drunken Heathcliff to an inn to rest.

The morning after, Tim greets Heathcliff, who is suffering from a hangover. “I asked our rouge friend to give us a lift to this ‘Black Box’,” Tim says. “Figured you wouldn't let the side effects get in your way.”

“Yer a dependable one, Tim,” Heathcliff said. “And so is Esteban.” The two soon hear the honking of a car horn outside, their ride is here. They begin to make preparations to embark towards the Dungeon, where Heathcliff hopes to find its core and land a position as the Dungeon Master.

✦✦✦

The mechanical spider assaults the party with fierce blows, but Maurice stuns it with a lightning spell, and Joe and Amelia use their blades to chip at its joints. Sarah meanwhile gets the boss focused on her and only her as Felicity supports with healing incantations.

Amelia throws one of her two swords, aiming it at one of the joints on the tall construct, cutting it clean off. Maurice notices the feat and aims another spell at another joint, stunning it.

“How did you know that was its weak point?” Maurice asks.

“Lucky guess?” Amelia says.

With two of the boss’ eight legs incapacitated the mech calls for help. Multiple Arachne emerge from the walls with a battle cry of “For the protector!” As they aim to assist the boss. Among their ranks is a small girl with white hair, greeting the party with a peculiar sense of familiarity. The walls shift and separate the group, with Amelia and Sarah in one pair, Felicity and Joe in another, and Maurice is left all alone. Three of the construct’s legs strike the ground near each group, flanked by two or more Arachne.

Joe protects Felicity as she prepares an incantation. “O’ Obsidian,” She chants. “He who forges the armor of the land, please protect us!”

The spell coats Felicity and Joe in a ward that protects them against the attacks of the Arachne and the weapons in the construct’s leg. Joe and Felicity climb up the monster’s leg to the weak point, and with a mighty swing, Joe cleaves it clean off.

“This is gonna be bumpy ride!” Joe yells as he protects Felicity as they fall. Felicity prepares a spell that beckons the air to move beneath them and cushion their fall.

Maurice meanwhile prepares an ice spell to freeze the air around them, preventing the Arachne from moving and creating a slope for him to slide on. As he ascends his icy road the weakness of the leg is in full view and Joe uses a lightning spell to disarm it.

The wall receded to give way to the sight of Sarah slamming another leg down, with Amelia’s blades jammed in its joint. With a mighty blow, the fifth of eight legs is disabled.

The giant mechanical spider unleashes a flurry of beams at the party, but they evade them as Maurice creates another ice road. Sarah ascends the frozen path and with a mighty leap, slams the sixth of the construct’s legs down, severing it with the force of a hundred tremors. The construct has only two legs left and could barely support itself with them.

The disc that was once beyond reach is now hanging near the ground, unable to reach its previous height with only two legs holding it up. Its attacks are easily dodged as its vantage point was lost. Amelia carefully observed the location of the last two joint and uses Maurice’s ice path get closer to them, from its peak she combines her two blades into a chakram and enchants them with a wind spell. She throws the blades at the joints. The weapon slices both legs off as it arcs around the arena. The construct felled, a compartment of its disk pops open to reveal a treasure chest. The chakram returns to Amelia as Maurice opens the chest.

The party finds hundreds of the same “coins” they found earlier as well as a swarm of nanomachines converging to create a longsword, a suit of armor and a clerical staff. The party stuff their pockets with a fifth of the coins found, but Amelia is shocked to learn that they fall straight through her pockets.

“Huh, but I was certain there were no holes there!” Amelia says.

“Now that’s is some bad luck,” Joe says as he takes the longsword. “Must’ve gotten torn in the trip.”

Felicity takes the staff. “The Arachne’s leg nails were pretty sharp,” she says as she observes the gashes on her sleeves.

“That’s to be expected,” Maurice says. “Their talons and teeth were among their most dangerous weapons when it comes to fighting.

“My brother will fix it later,” Sarah says. “For now, I’ll keep a hold of your loot.”

“Thanks, Sarah,” Amelia says.

“Hope you didn’t keep anything important in dem pockets,” Joe says.

What was thought to be a wall shifts and reveals itself to be a door way, granting further entry into the dungeons’ depths. The party ventures further into its mysterious depths.

✦✦✦

The purple hues of the patterns on the black walls fade into a more indigo color as the party descends. The group observed a sickly scent in the hallway. A scent that Felicity realizes is miasmic.

Joe, Maurice, and Sarah start coughing, having realized they were caught in a poisonous trap. Felicity prepares an incantation.

“O’ hallowed Halcyon. She who is served by the storms and the seas…” Felicity says. The group is coated in a mist that overrides the poison as the elven priestess finishes. “This should help us get through this poison.”

Maurice observed the source of the mist and found vents lining the walls around them, spewing the poisonous haze. He sees that there are too many of them to obstruct. “How long can this boon last us?” He says.

“Thirty minutes,” Felicity says.

“Better act quickly,” Joe says.

The group fights their way toward the end of the hallway, fighting beasts along the way. They observed that the wolves and large rats are different from those outside, having parts of them that are mechanical and fluid.

With only minutes to spare, the party boards an elevator and descends further, the miasma clearing from the chamber as it makes its descent. Out the window, Amelia and Sarah sight the shadows of two Alraunes tending to the monsters. One of them looks like a young child. The two shadows recede behind a wall as the other three approach the window.

The elevator doors open to reveal a seemingly empty room. The only thing to note is an unguarded treasure chest.

“On your guard,” Joe says gruffly. “This could be another trap.”

“O-on it,” Felicity says meekly.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Sarah says. Amelia and Maurice approach the chest together and find that it is locked.

The room suddenly dims to darkness as the party hears the giggles of children around them.

“Foolish intruders,” a mysterious voice says. “You had done well to get this far, but your journey ends here!”

A spotlight turns on as the voice finishes their sentence, directing the party’s attention to a young Lamia girl. Her salmon-pink hair is tied in poofy pigtails as she spins her baton around. Her outfit is black with accents of a similar hue to her hair and tail, with a design and aesthetic that evokes a princess’ dress.

More spotlights shine, revealing more figures. A periwinkle mermaid with a clionid tail, a lilac-purple girl with wolf-like ears, a mint-green girl with antlers and wings beneath her arms, a minatouroid girl with orange hair, a cyan girl with glasses, a red girl with fiery wings also beneath her arms, and a yellow centaur.

The room is illuminated with colored lights as the party finds themselves outnumbered.

“Challengers,” the pink girl says. “You face heroines of justice!”

“From the streets of Noir,” The yellow centaur says cheerfully.

“We smite the wicked and the corrupt,” the firey-winged girl says with passion.

“To defend the innocent,” the minotaur says, brandishing her axe.

“We’re the aegis of the crumbs of society!” the antlered child says.

“Protectors of the weak,” the bespectacled girl says with a deadpan tone.

“Only those of the light can best us!” the wolf-eared girl says.

“You face… the Coloraturas,” the mermaid says.

The party is surprised to find what looks like a crew of magical girls as a dungeon boss of all things. “I-is there any way we can talk things over?” Felicity asks.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Maurice says. “Perhaps we should find another path.” He turns and finds the elevator is gone. The party has no choice but to fight these magical girls.

“Well,” Joe says, unsheathing his new broadsword. “Brats are askin’ fer it!” The party begins a battle with the Coloraturas.

The pink leader of the magical girls opens by calling a barrage of lightning from above and striking the ground. Shocking Sarah as the black-and-orange-clad minotaur clashes with Sarah.

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The mermaid practices her comedic material with Amelia as she launches water attacks at her and Felicity, who manages to deflect them with a well-timed ward. The mermaid swims around the arena.

“Try not to kill them!” Sarah says, still locked in combat with the minotaur. “Sentinels or no, they are still kids.”

“She’s right,” Maurice says. “I’d rather not have to explain child murder to the guild and the Institute.”

“Tch,” Joe says. “Fine.” He turns his broadsword to the blunt edge, aiming to instead knock them out. He tries to strike the black-and-yellow-clad centaur, but her light magic blinds him in the process and his blow misses.

The black-and-green-clad antlered girl uses wind magic to distract Felclity and redirect Maurice’s ice spells away from her.

Amelia sees the bespectacled and black-and-cyan-clad girl summon a freezing snowstorm and signals Maurice to cast a fire-based counterspell. Maurice’s spell managed to prevent ice from forming around them.

The minotaur disengages with Sarah and instead charges at Marice but the spell-caster anticipates that and dodges.

Felicity finds that no one is targeting her and makes preparations for a high-level ritual.

“O’ Halcyon. Mother of marine life, nay all life,” she chants. “Bring us your aid!”

Rain falls on the battlefield as Felicity’s ritual continues. “I make this offering of holy water in thy name.”

The black-and-pastel-red-clad girl notices Felciity’s attempt and dashes forward with her blazing wings, but she is intercepted by Amelia.

The rain makes the lightning attacks of the lamia hazardous to her friends as everyone is rendered wet from the ritual’s effects summoning rain. Maurice senses an opportunity and casts ice spells at the bespectacled and minotaur girls, freezing them solid.

“Wow,” the mermaid says, “Talk about the cold shoulder.” Marice freezes the mermaid after she utters that pun.

“Stay clear,” Maurice says as he casts another spell at the antlered girl. He is careful not to turn the rain into a blizzard. Amelia and Sarah get out of the way as he lobs another spell at the wolf-eared girl.

The centaur tries to blind Maurice, but Joe hits her back with his sword, the blunt edge causes enough pain for her to misfire and instead reveal her location to Maurice, and she is encased in ice for her troubles.

All that is now left is the phoenix-winged and lamia girls. But they are determined to see the battle through and avenge their friends.

“This is your last chance,” Maurice says. Offering the Coloraturas a chance to surrender, but the magical girls refused. The red-winged girl swoops in, but Maurice already prepared the spell and froze her in midair.

Amelia notices that the lamia child is now summoning lightning bolts left and right, a desperate effort for one trying to seize victory while her friends are frozen, and with childish disregard for the harm done to herself in the process. Amelia jumps in front of her and gives a stern but frightening glare, surprising and distracting the girl long enough for Maurice to finish preparing his ice spells. Amelia jumps out of the way and the last thing the Lamia sees is a sheet of ice encapsulating her small serpentine frame.

The rain stops and the party takes the opportunity to dry off as the chest suddenly unlocks. Inside lies a shield, a magician’s rod, and a robe tailored for both clerical and arcane spell-casting. Maurice hands Felicity the robe as a token of appreciation for the rain spell. The shy elf blushes as she accepts the gift.

“Fire, Ice, Lightning,” Amelia says, “interesting repertoire.”

“You noticed?” Maurice says as he grasps the magician’s rod. “My studies into the arcane elements had yielded much fruit, but I admit that I am unable to channel the other seven.”

“Eight you say?” Amelia says.

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Sarah says. “Fire, Water, Ice, Electricity, Earth, Wind, Darkness, and Light are the common eight elements.”

“Indeed,” Maurice says to the tanned dwarf. “And it is said there are two rarer ones besides, rumored to encompass the cosmos and all Mana.”

“Never expected someone as hardheaded as her to grasp magic fundamentals,” Joe says.

“I try to be above average as far as blacksmithing goes,” Sarah says. “Besides, I dabble in engineering and magic is plenty involved in that!”

“Come to think of it,” Maurice says. “Those magical girls, they seem able to wield one of the common elements each.”

Amelia is reminded of something and approaches the lamia girl, still frozen. Her eyes reflect a lack of consciousness. Out of earshot of the others, she says “No hard feelings?” to the frozen child, and the other frozen girls by proxy. A path soon opens at the side of the chamber.

While Sarah and Joe bicker. Maurice observes Sarah’s weapon and mentally compares it to the weapons, he and Joe acquired, and to Amelia’s blades. He noticed similarities in the aesthetic and designs of them. He begins to wonder, but Joe breaks his musings.

“Hurry up,” the swordsman shouts. He and the others are already far ahead of Maurice as they travel down the emerging path, illuminated in a blinding light.

✦✦✦

A fairy wakes up from a cocoon attached to a black and blue wall. Emerging as a young woman about fourteen years of age. Her pink hair and wings contrasted with her mostly black surroundings.

As she flies around, knowledge and memories begin flooding her mind. She knows who this place is, and what her role in this dungeon is.

At the same time, a consciousness rouses. The mind of a teenage girl who groggily wakes up and realizes she cannot feel her arms, her legs, her everything. Her senses are overloaded by simultaneous sensations, yet she could not see anything, and could barely hear the ambient sounds of machinery whirring.

“Where am I?” The consciousness asks. Her seemingly disembodied mind struggled to see anything, blinded, the mind wanders. “What happened.” She vaguely recalls a strange dream, a dream of hearing strange voices and feeling hammers pound in on her.

The fairy soon arrives at a large crystal. Taking the form of two cones, connected by a ring. “So this is the core,” the fairy says. She attunes herself to the frequencies and makes contact. “Hello?”

The consciousness heads a clear voice. She tries to pinpoint the location, but her blindness prevents her from seeing anything and she feels sessile and unable to move. Her vision is soon clear of darkness and she sees a pink-haired fairy talking to her.

“Attunement’s complete,” the fairy cheerfully says. “Now then, do you remember your name?”

“My name?” the consciousness says. She struggles to recall, but her memory only goes as far back as the hazy memories of the dream. Yet one detail stuck out from those vague recollections. A single word, a name. “Emily,” she answers.

“Emily. Got it,” The fairy says. “Mine’s Elizabeth. Nice to meet you.”

“Do you know,” Emily says tiredly. “Where we are?”

Elizabeth realizes that Emily is not quite aware of what her circumstances are. “Well you see, we’re inside you. If that makes sense.”

“Pardon?” Emily asks.

“You had been among the lucky few souls to be reincarnated as a Dungeon, congrats!” Elizabeth says with a huge grin. Emily is left further confused but as she processes the response she begins to realize that she has been transformed into a place. She tried to scream, but no sound was heard. The walls and floor go berserk, shifting chaotically around the core and Elizabeth.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth thought, “Forgot to lean her into it. Oopsie.” She tries calming down the panicking girl. A while later, she managed to calm Emily down.

“Okay, now that we got that existential panic attack over with,” Elizabeth says. “We should go over the basics. First off, you had been chosen by the Administrators to become a Divine Dungeon, which means your job is to help circulate mana over the world. You do that by generating arms, armor, currency, and material to entice adventurers to raid you. Got it?”

The mental image of strangers invading her body combined with her newfound alien senses begins to cause her to panic once more.

Elizabeth calms her down again. “Let’s try it another way,” she says. “This place is you, and you are this place. You are still an organism, but not one of flesh. Does that make sense?”

“I think?” Emily says.

“Good,” Elizabeth says. “Until you can get an avatara, it is best to not think of yourself as an organic creature for now. You are still mortal however as your life depends on how much mana you can spread throughout the land, and how much you absorb from it in turn. Where the adventurers die or escape with loot from you and your personally, you would be able to take mana from them to use towards sustaining yourself as well as the creation of new gear. The more people die, the better, the more people live to tell the tale and attract more people, the even better.”

Emily is disturbed by the fairy’s words. Yet she is calm enough to satisfy Elizabeth.

“Now dearie,” Elizabeth says. “As a living dungeon, you have some control over how the structure of the place is laid out, you can move walls, generate chests for loot, and create cells.”

“Cells?” Emily says.

“Autonomous entities that are beholden to your subconscious. They are among the many constructs you can craft.”

“So um,” Emily says. “Why are you here then?”

“Me?” Elizabeth says. “I’m your dedicated guide. Here to show you the ropes of being a dungeon.”

“Okay,” Emily says. “Anything else.”

“Well,” Elizabeth says. “You can try generating an object. Divine Dungeons usually have a resource unique to them, a selling point, a lure for adventurers seeking novelty.”

Emily concentrates a little focusing on an object, any object. A stuffed bear is formed out from the walls. Visible mechanical pieces and glowing lines decorate the attempted plush toy.

Elizabeth looked carefully at the doll, but couldn't find anything unusual. She decides to focus Emily’s vision on the doll. Elizabeth focuses Emily’s vision deep into the toy until she sees things at a microscopic, no, nanoscopic level.

“What do you see?” Elizabeth asks.

“I see,” Emily says. “Robots? Huh? They seem to be linked to each other.”

“Hmm,” Elizabeth says. She muses on it before realizing something. “Are you sure that is what you see?”

Emily observed the small construct in place, each other physically connected. She could not remember how she learned of machines, but she knew they existed and she assured Elizabeth that she was seeing tiny robots.

Elizabeth uses her attunement to fix Emily’s vision back on her. “I see,” she says. “This could potentially change Titania as we know it,” she thinks. “Emily, do you know what nanomachinery is?”

Emily thinks for a bit before realizing that she does. “Do you think that is my ‘selling point’?”

“If what you said is true,” Elizabeth says, “Then yes. Though we’ll probably have to get it verified soon. For now, the rumors will have to do!”

Throughout the weeks, Elizabeth has instructed Emily on the creation of weapons and items, as well as the coordination of cells to prevent intruders. In this time Emily has contended with several novice raiding parties, each of them successful to such a degree, that she is rendered sickly.

One day, Elizabeth tries to address Emily’s condition. “How are you feeling?” Elizabeth says.

“Terrible,” Emily says. It has been a few months since they met each other, and Emily has lost so much Mana that she is barely keeping herself together. “Did you find anything that could help?”

“Unfortunately no, dearie,” Elizabeth says. “Heartstone is difficult to find ‘round these parts, and there were no mind gems either.” Elizabeth finds the blue hues have given away to a bloody red, as has Emily’s core. “We need to get the avatara made, posthaste,” Elizabeth thinks.

At the same time, Heathcliff and Tim explore the Black Box. They see the machine Cells melting and malfunctioning, making their trek easier.

“Well,” Heathcliff says. “This place had seen better time, cher.”

Tim notices the oddly decrepit state of the dungeon. The walls creak as they haphazardly slide along the rails. The sounds of jammed machines fill the air. “Is this place even alive anymore?” he asks.

“They better be,” Heathcliff says. “Much as I prefer otherwise this is a golden opportunity for us.”

“Care to clarify?” Tim says.

“I’m a fair man,” Heathcliff says. “I prefer to make fair deals. A dungeon in dire straits not a fair deal. It a one-sided contract with us unfairly advantaged. At the same time, would be trouble for the locals if a divine dungeon up and croak.”

“Surprisingly considerate of you,” Tim said. “Maybe you are still as the tales claimed you were.”

Heathcliff notices a faint glimmer in the distance. “Allons!” he says.

At the end of the hallway, they find the dungeon’s core as well as a panicking fairy. The fairy is so caught up in her worries that hadn’t noticed the two men near her, expressing her fears that she is unable to get an avatara in time. She is then alerted by the core that they have “guests”.

Elizabeth sees the two men and panics, before assuming a defensive stance, declaring “No!, I will not let anyone harm Emily in this state!” before realizing that that the two men do not brandish their weapons.

“Sounds like you in need of an avatara, mon amie,” Heathcliff says. “Well, you’re in luck!” He presents Elizabeth with the mind gem, heartstone, and poppetwood. “Get the place a body, then we can talk.”

Elizabeth is surprised but she knows Emily’s health is more important at the moment and gets to work assembling the avatara body. She assembles the heartstone and mind gem in appropriate locations, then lays out the poppetwood. “Alright Emily,” she says. “These gentlemen had provided us materials for an avatara. Try to visualize a form for yourself and your body will do the rest.

“Okay,” Emily says. She focuses on the form she wants to take. A human form, one similar to what she recalls of a past self. As she concentrates, the materials are absorbed into the floor and a pod emerges where they once were. The pods draws in mana from the surrounding land, somewhat healing the dungeon as a humanoid form is made visible in the pod. The red of the walls and lights soon changes to a calm yet lively blue. She can feel arms and legs again, she can feel the breath she takes. The process is draining her consciousness. She struggles to stay awake but soon falls into a deep sleep.

The next morning she awakes in her pod. Greeted by Elizabeth and the two gentlemen from last night. The armored man introduces himself as Heathcliff Ford. The pretty boy gives the name Timothy Howard. Emily thanks the two men.

“Don’t mention it, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Now let get down to business.”

“While you were sleeping,” Elizabeth says. “Heathcliff here told me that he was looking to be a Dungeon Master. A person that specializes in helping us manage the dungeon better. Most of the more renowned Dungeons have Masters.”

“I do be a good adventurer,” Heathcliff adds. “I know a lot about how to navigate their places, so I know the tricks they be angling to use.”

“The fact that he was able to the materials in such qualities speaks to his talent,” Elizabeth says. “At the very least his expertise would ensure we would retain enough mana to sustain your actual body.”

“My body,” Emily thinks to herself.

“That reminds me,” Elizabeth says. “The avatara will take a while to incubate. We can discuss his terms in the meantime”

“Of course,” Emily says. She is grateful to the two men. Elizabeth explains that Heathcliff is offering her services in exchange for relatively minuscule terms. Simply wants a place for him and his page Tim to stay, and is even offering a “Lagniappe” in the form of getting her registered to a local guild, ensuring among other things that more people are able to visit her, as well as having Tim serve as her very first Sentinel.

“Don’t we have enough visitors as it is?” Emily says.

“I can understand your concerns,” Elizabeth says. “But there are benefits to them that are related to the avatara, and besides while we had issues with too little mana, problems begin to arise when we hoard too much of it as well. A dungeon cannot perform effectively if its offerings do not spread beyond their walls.”

“Got it,” Emily says. She thinks about the offer for a while before remembering a certain detail. “What is a Sentinel?”

“A protector of the dungeon,” Tim says. “Though they can be constructs, my experiences can attest that hired adventurers are more common.”

“Civilizations tend to form around dungeons,” Elizabeth says. “For various reasons, certain people had taken it upon themselves to guard the dungeon. These are called sentinels, and by all accounts, Tim here seems pretty decent.”

Emily thinks about the deal some more, the two men seem very skilled as far as Elizabeth is concerned and she could use the help. She also feels a desire to repay them for helping her. “Okay,” she says. “I’ll take your deal Mr. Ford.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, cher,” Heathcliff said. “Of course, just ‘Heathcliff’ will do. Formalities don’t feel right to me.”

“Of course, Heathcliff,” Emily said politely.” The young girl feels tired again.

“Sorry about that,” Elizabeth said. “Normally you should be sleeping to conserve mana, but I found that matter needed to be addressed immediately.”

“That’s alright,” Emily said as her mind drifts further towards sleep. “Could really use a good rest about now. Goodnight.”

With Emily asleep, Elizabeth turns to the two men. “I’ll lead to to rooms you can use while you’re here. Not really a good place to make your lodgings.”

“Fair enough,” Heathcliff says. The three leave the core room, and the sleeping Emily.

✦✦✦

The party goes further down the new path. Maurice’s mind is still on the dungeon’s loot and the eerie similarities to the weapons wielded by both Amelia and Sarah. He approaches the two. “Excuse me,” he says. “By any chance did you visit this place before?”

“Not until today,” Sarah says. “Why?”

“I was wondering about those swords you wield,” Marice says. “They seem very unusual.”

“Oh, those?” Amelia says. “They were a gift from a friend.”

“A friend?” Maurice says.

“Yeah,” Amelia says. “She was something of a mentor to me. She had handed these weapons to me a while back. Likely had got them from this very dungeon.”

Maurice intuits that this friend of hers had recently perished. “How did she die?”

“Rather nosy fella, aren’t you?” Sarah says.

“She was slain by Noir’s mob,” Amelia says. “She had died trying to protect me from them.”

“The mob huh?” Maurice said. “Was it the Voorhees gang? The Frankenstein family?”

“The Vanishers,” Amelia says.

“Fascinating,” Maurice says, aware that the invisibility magics they use make it difficult to avoid their attacks, and also how difficult it is to track them.

Joe and Felicity notice the other three are lagging and grab their attention. The group reconvenes at the end of the path. There they find an unusually ornate room, its golden hue contrasting with the now blue patterns on the glossy black walls.

“Is this…” Felicity says.

“Looks like it leads to a treasure room,” Sarah says. “Could be guarded by a mighty foe.

“We need to be careful, our time in this dungeon is limited,” Joe says.

“Huh?” Felicity says.

“Divine Dungeons have a time limit on ‘visitors’,” Joe says.

“Indeed,” Maurice says. “We’ve only a half hour left before we are expelled. One of several features designed to both protect the core and make room for other raiders.”

“Guess we ought to stop dawdling then,” Sarah says. “Let’s go!” Sarah begins to slam the door wide open, to everyone’s shock.

“Sarah!” Amelia says.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah says with a cheeky grin. “The dungeon will repair herself anyway.” Amelia scowls at the dwarf.

Maurice leads the group in, thinking it futile to debate the lost element of surprise. They find a large amount of coins, different from the black ones they have encountered thus far. More familiar. As the party looks through the treasure, taking what they can get, Amelia looks back and spots four shadows in the distance behind her.

The shadows move about, one has ears pointed out in a feline shape, two fade from sight with what seems to be romantic gestures, and the fourth leaps above the walls. The feline-eared shadow winks at Amelia before leaving.

As if on that shadow’s cue, ninja emerge from the treasures, to everyone’s shock.

“Oh, ninjas,” Joe sardonically says. “Even this place had to have effing ninjas!”

Felicity invokes the Administrator Ereshkigal to confer the ability to see the unseen. Maurice uses lightning spells to repel the shadow warriors while Sarah and Joe thwart attempted assassinations.

“Why are there ninja here?” Maurice says. “This is far away from Yae Shoto!”

“Is now really the time for questions?” Sarah says.

Amelia has an idea. “Felicity, can you create a shroud of darkness?”

“I-I can try,” Felicity says. She prepares an invocation. “Oh holy Astra, spirit of everywhere and every-when. Ruler of the cosmos…”

The shinobi surround the party but are held back by Sarah and Maurice’s efforts.

“Grant us the protection of hallowed darkness…”

Amelia and Joe locks blades with a ninja each, attempting to poison them with imbued swords. They manage to repel both assailants.

“Enshroud us in night’s aegis!” Felicity finishes her spell. The elven cleric is coated under a dark veil, as is the rest of the party. They are invisible to the ninja, while the opponents are in turn exposed by the prior enchantment. One by one, the ninja fall to attacks from invisible assailants. In due time, the ninja falls. Twenty minutes left on the clock. The effects of Felicity’s enchantments fades.

A door appears, with a timer showing how much time the party has left before the Black Box ejects them. The unclaimed treasure in the room melts into the walls, sans one chest. The party prepare for another fight as the door opens and a man enters the room.

“Your last challenge is here,” the man says, clad in a black outfit with orange accents. His black and orange hair billows in the wind as he points his spear at the party. “En garde!”

The man jumps high into the air and thrusts his spear down from on high. The shockwave pushes everyone but Sarah, who reflexively slams her hammer into the ground and embeds it into the floor, back. Joe attempts to slash at the man, but his spear easily blocks his sword and deflects it with ease. Sarah dislodges her hammer and tries to smash him, but he steps to the right and lets her pass, creating an open that he exploits with a shoulder strike.

Felicity tries to prepare another incantation, but finds that her ritual items had been exhausted from the previous two spells. Amelia tries to intercept the Sentinel’s attack, but she was unable to make it in time and Felicity is knocked out cold by a hip strike from the man. Only Amelia and Maurice are left standing against this man.

“This man is,” Maurice thinks. “He knocked out three with a single blow each. Come on, get a grip!” He knows that he has to do something soon. He rapidly speaks the words for a barrage of spells of all three arcane elements, but the man simply spins his spear and deflects the spells.

Ten minutes are left. The man approches Maurice to knock him out with his spear. He thrusts it forward, but it doesn't hit Maurice. Instead it stabs Amelia, who got in-between the mage and the spearman.

Blood spurts out from Amelia’s abdomen as she takes the man by surprise. While he is shocked, she grabs his weapon and remove it. She turns to Maurice. “Now!”

Maurice understands that there is an opening and lobs a magic fire missile at the spearman, forcing him back. Amelia covers her wound and throws one of her swords at the spearman. The blade manages to hit his shoulder, wounding him for a moment. The three continue to fight. After four minutes Maurice and Amelia had prevailed.

The spearman defeated, he simply laughs, and congratulates the party. He then tosses the key to Maurice and vanishes.

With five minutes left, Maurice hurriedly opens the key and claims all the loot. A thousand silver coins, ten gold coins, a composite longbow, a pair of breeches and five cubes. A blinding light engulfs the party.

✦✦✦

The Party finds themselves at the entrance of the Black Box again. The light was bright enough to rouse Sarah, Joe, and Felicity from unconsciousness.

“Did we lose?” Sarah says in a daze.

“Quite the opposite,” Maurice said, presenting the items, including the cubes. He then splits them even with the party, before Amelia reminds them of her sliced pockets.

“I’ll find a tailor for us when we return to town,” Maurice says.

“No, it’s okay,” Amelia says. “I’ll fix them later.”

The party heads to the nearest town and the nearest guildhall to sort out their winnings.

“Dibs on the pants!” Joe says. The breeches went to Joe, to go with his armor.

“Um, I know this archer, “Felicity says. “He has been complaining about his bow lately so…” The bow went to Felicity.

“So that leaves the cubes,” Maurice says. “There are exactly five here so—“

“Not interested,” Sarah says, interrupting him.

“You could've let me finish!” Maurice says.

“Five cubes, five people,” Sarah says. “Its not hard to see where that is going. Hard pass.” She then gazes at her weapon. “Was only here to test this bad boy, remember?”

“I think you should have mine,” Amelia says. “You said the Institute wants to research the Dungeon’s items.”

“That is true,” Maurice says.

“I’ll take mine,” Felicity says. “If you don’t mind, that is.”

“I don’t really care what it is,” Joe says. “But I ain’t leaving money on the table like that.” He takes his cube from the table.

Maurice splits the coins into five piles as well.

“I’ll hang onto Amelia’s share ‘til we get home,” Sarah says.

“Guess that is it then?” Joe says.

“I guess so,” Felicity says. “T-thank you!”

“No problem,” Sarah says. “It was fun. “Are we gonna see each other again?”

“I have to go report to the Institute,” Maurice says. “After that it would probably be years before I return.”

“Have another job in back in Mezzoville,” Joe says. “Can’t keep the boss waitn’”

With their quest finished the party disbands. They bid farewell to each other as Joe and Maurice leave Felicity, Sarah and Amelia alone.

“Maybe we can meet up again soon,” the shy elfin girl says. “I-if you want that is.”

“Sounds fun,” Sarah says.

“Maybe you can introduce your archer friend to us next time,” Amelia says.

“I’ll be s-sure to,” Felicity says.

Amelia checks the time. The clock on the guildhall reads 3:50 PM. “Guess it time for us to go,” she says. The three part ways for now. With Sarah and Emily leaving the town.

The human and dwarf girls chat a bit about the events of the day as they traverse the forest.

“So that was a nice group huh?” Sarah says.

“Seems like,” “Amelia” says, having a more energetic mood than before. “Though there were some close calls.”

“Maybe Richard can get us some poison-proofed suits,” Sarah says.

The two soon approach the black box again. Sarah says, “We’re home!” as the two approach the dungeon. “Amelia” touches the walls and a hole appears.

Entering the dungeon. “Amelia” begins to feel a little lethargic.

“I’ll check to see what’s on the menu tonight. I’m starving!” Sarah says as she leaves “Amelia”.

“Amelia” enters a daze as she moves further into the dungeon, growing more tired with each passing step. Eventually her body collapse on the ground, motionless, lifeless. A certain fairy arrives and approaches the body.

“Welcome home,” Elizabeth says. “Emily.”

✦✦✦

A moment later, Emily wakes up, in her original body. By now the alien sensations are as familiar to her as the sun and the moon. She feels the wind blowing through her halls. The footsteps on her floors, she could hear everything and everyone inside her. She could fee.

She focuses her sight on her avatara, which is being placed in its pod for recharging, and for returning to its normal form. She then focuses her gaze on another room, where Atsuko is praising her ninjas for their showmanship earlier, a strange machine sitting nearby her. She then shifts her gaze towards Esteban and Julia, who are preparing to return to their home in the city Noir. She then gazes at the Alraunes, who had just finished thawing out the Coloraturas. The magical girls were given blankets by Sarah’s brother Richard to warm up.

“Sorry about that,” Emily says to the young girls.

“Meh,” Rose, the leader of the magical girl troupe, says. “We’re used to it by now.” She sneezes.

“Not like Sentinels could be killed like that,” the minotaur, Strelitiza says as she shares her blanket with Clover, the antlered and winged girl.

“Was a chilly reception, though,” Azalea, the clionid mermaid says.

“That mage was pretty strong, I thought you said they were beginners!” Raine, the other winged girl says.

“They are,” Emily says. “At least Felicity is!”

Hydrangea, the girl with glasses, opens a book, as she is wont to do. While Lily, the centaur, plays with Nina, an Arachne child with silver hair, and Anemone, the wolf-eared girl.

Emily turns her eyes to another room, where she finds Carla and Charlotte tending to the wild beasts. The two Alraunes greet Emily. She then looks at the treasure room and finds Tim practicing his spear work.

“Hello,” Emily says.

“You picked an interesting group today,” Tim says. “And here I thought this was an easy sparring session.”

“Where’s Heathcliff?” Emily says.

“‘Making groceries’, he says,” Tim says. “He’ll be home soon.”

A while later Emily notices the presence of her dungeon master, Heathcliff Ford. “Welcome home,” she says. “How was your trip?”

“Went quick, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Traffic a pest. So mind reminding me of how you and Sarah led your party on the tour?”

“The adventure went well,” Emily said. She giggled as she sensed the bemusement on Heathcliff’s face. “But certain people were that close to revealing themselves” She manifests two pillars that nearly touched each other.

“Wanna talk to them about it, or should I?” Heathcliff says.

“Maybe later,” Emily says. “Who’s cooking tonight?”

“Elizabeth,” Heathcliff says. “Said she wanted to try new chocolate recipes.”

“The kids will probably like that,” Emily said. “Rose had always mentioned how she likes ‘to go all the way’”

Heathcliff sighs as he recalls how not that long ago, he and Tim were mere wanderers. “Half of a year it’s been since we got you from death’s doorstop, cher. Lot has happened since then.”

Heathcliff’s words sparked a sense of realization in Emily. “Has it been that short? Thought it was more than a year.”

Heathcliff laughs. Elizabeth arrives to greet him and to demand the groceries.

“Dinner’ll be ready in an hour, Em,” the fairy says.

“Looking forward to it,” Emily says.”

Later that night. As everyone else is asleep, Emily begins to reminisce about the times before today. Beginning with her registration at the guild…