Wakefulness slowly returned to Xiaolian, but she struggled against it, burring herself deeper into the comforting wight that was surrounding her. It took her brain a moment or two to register the abnormality of the situation, slowly opening her eyes she gazed around the room that was definite not abandon building that she normally slept in.
Indeed there was none of the rotten floor boards that she slept on, nor the creaking door that slammed open and close at the slightest bit of wind, not even the room with the multiple holes that let the rain in. Instead what greeted her was a room like what she imagined would be available to some one sleeping in one of those fancy hotels albeit a bit bear. The bed was as large as an ox and soft as the finest silks with the covers of pure white, the walls where clean and whole as if waiting for someone to hang something on them, the entrance had a door that was not banging open and close do to the wind, there was even a small blue crystal on the celling providing the room with a soft glow. As she looked around what could only be a fantastical dream her gaze was slowly to a pare of glowing green eyes.
Noticing her attention the eye’s owner suddenly spoke up “Hi!! You feeling better?” the voice was surprisingly young sounding no older than she was in fact the eye’s owner looked just as old as she was.
“Uh yes?” was her shakily response back.
“That's good! You where out like a rock when dad brought you here.”
“Um where, if you don’t mind me asking, is here exactly?”
“Your room of course silly!”
Before she could formulate a response to that statement the door to the room opened and a heavily cloaked person stepped in with a tray of food and a steaming mug of some liquid. “Rachel! No overloading people with information!” The now named Rachel slumped down slightly at the chastisement “Sorry dad.”
“You’ll have to excuse her, she doesn't get too see may kids her age around here.”
Taking a moment to quicky recenter herself Xiaolian asked “C-could you explain by what she means exactly?”
“Of course but first introductions” the cloaked person said as they placed the tray into her lap “I am Murray and the little bundle of energy and creativity is Rachel my daughter. Now to answer you question, what was the last thing you remember?”
“Um, I was bleedings?”
“Well yes you where, but more specifically you where dyeing.”
“Oh”
“Now before you start worrying about if your actually dead, you did something.” At that revelation Xiaolian looked to Murray with anxious filled eyes. Slowly to not frighten her Murray sat next to her and explained her situation.
“What you did was ask for help, had you done so in any other location that cry for help would have most likely not been answered. However the reason why it was answered is because your cry was done in a Dungeon.”
“W-What’s a Dungeon?”
“A Dungeon is a place that the world puts bad things in time out!” Rachel’s suddenly interjected with jumping into Xiaolian’s unoccupied side.
“While my daughter’s explanation is vastly simplified she isn't wrong. To put it in another way, when something truly kourotrophic happens is such a way that would complexly alter reality as you know it where to happen the world creates a Dungeon in order to contain it. Now in order to make sure that said cataclysm doesn't escape the Dungeon itself is technically alive and able to grow stronger to better contain what it holds. Unfortunately the only way for it to grow is by having those outside it interact with it, claiming resources that spawn within it, fighting the defenders that protect it, or just wondering about seeing the sites.”
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“W-why is that a bad thing exactly?
“Well sore the simple matter of every now and again you've got the random idiot that things it’s a great idea to destroy the dungeon out of some misguided belief that doing so will rid the world of some great and terrible evil.” Was Murray’s exasperated response. “And that’s not counting any random cults that might pop up. But anyway this actually leads into your new job!”
Xiaolian could only just stared like Murray was suddenly sprouting tentacles at this sudden revelation. It took Rachel waving her hand in front of her face to jolt her out of her shock. “What do you mean I have a job?!”
“It actually ties back into your cry for help. Because your cry was done in a Dungeon, it was able to be answered. However there are some things that can not be avoided, one of them being death herself. Considering you where on her doorstep the only way the Dungeon could feasibly save you was to bind your soul to itself. Now normally this would just result in your wounds being healed and after a 24 hour wait your soul would be unbound and you would bee free to go.”
“What do you mean normally.”
Before Murray could respond Rachel cheerfully responded “Well what ever your attacker did to your heart had a side affect when the Dungeon was healing you. Specifically your no longer fully alive but your also not dead, your in the middle so technically you are an undead.”
“Ug... Rachel information overload.” Murray said with a hand massaging his eyes.
“Sorry dad.”
“Before you panic about your new statis Your only half undead specifically half willow-wisp. And as such the Dungeon can’t unbind your soul because we don’t know what that could do to you so instead you are now one of us in protecting the Dungeon from idiots.” Murray calmly explained to help Xiaolian avoid panicking. “We can explain more but I think the soup has cooled down enough and we’ve delayed your breakfast long enough. We will be outside your door when your done.”
And with that Murray picked up Rachel and left Xiaolian to her breakfast of fruit and soup.
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Dressed in a simple but clean clothes Xiaolian slowly opened the door to see it opened on to a balcony that over looked an empty but large square room. With a quick look around Xiaolian found that Murray and Rachel where just a few feet to her right. Noticing her Murray beckoned her over before pulling out a metal hoop with multiple strange keys attached to it. “Before we actually give you a tour of the Dungeon, there is something you should be warned about.”
“Oh uh what should I watch out for?”
“Well the true is that the Dungeon doesn’t have a solid layout which can be attributed to what it is actually containing.”
“What exactly is it containing?” Xiaolian asked after a blink of confusion.
“The exact nature is a bit hard to describe but the easiest explanation is a hole in reality that is allowing the lands of living to mix with the lands of the dead.” Murray explained while looking for a specific key. “Now normally a Dungeon would have a strict layout where once ‘room’ is defined it will not be able to change niter the structure nor the location it is in.”
“But this one can?”
“Exactly!” Rachel answered Xiaolian’s guess. “Dad says that it prefers to only move the ‘rooms’ around and leaves how they look and act up to us!”
“Well most rooms, the entrance room, the one we are currently in, it keeps to itself on how it looks.” Murray added while holing up a key that looked to be a mixer of glowing bronze and flowing honey. “Ah here we go, now do to the rooms constantly shifting the only quick way to get to your destination is with these keys. Otherwise you'll have to walk through the area which can take quite awhile depending on where you are trying to go.”
“So where are we going?” Xiaolian asked as Murray used the selected key on a closed door.
“Why we have to introduce you to your new co-workers of course.” With a gentle push the door opened to reveal a scene beyond Xiaolian’s wildest imagination. Bronze pots and pans towered over her, multiple caldrons of immense size boiled with soups and broths that she could not even begin to describe the aroma that gently wafted towards her, fires that roared under unknow animals cadavers that threatened to set her mouth watering from how the meat sizzled and popped, and even simple bowls of fruit looked to have come from the havens themselves. As distracted as she was by these mouthwatering sites she wasn't distracted enough to not noticed the small humanoids that were crafting the tempting delights. “... Are they?” she hesitantly asked.
“Oh no those are not your co-workers, they are just denizens. Basically people who live in the dungeon but are not bound to it like we are.” Murray explained while Rachel gave the dirty dishes to a passing scaly denizen.
“Uh no, what are they?” Xiaolian tried to explain her actual question which caused Murray to stop and stare at her.
“...They are kobolds...don’t you recognize them?”
“Uh no should I have?”