"Um, your name's Daniel? I thought it was going to be something cliche like...Death?" Daniels indescribable eyes twitched and he stood up, his visage once more hidden in the shadows of his cowl. 

"I AM Death, you moron. You asked who I am, not WHAT I am. You see, Death comes in many forms, like Humans." Sitting back down, he continued to mutter to himself. Awkwardly, I sat back down and was about to ask my next question when Daniel beat me to the punch.

"Alright punk, you're all set for destination Turoid! I suggest you just shut up and close your eyes before you put your foot in your mouth again." Imagining Daniel giving him the evil eye, I just smiled and shrugged before complying.

As I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, Instead of the head rest that I knew was there I felt as if I was falling. Panicking, I tried to open my eyes but all I saw was darkness all around me and the sensation of falling increased. Closing my eyes again, I screamed loudly. 

"Oh FUCK! No no no no no no I hate the falling dreams!" I yelled.

"Oh please shut the fuck up, would you? It was funny the first minute but now it's getting old." A voice said angrily. Breathing short, quick breaths I whipped my head around and tried to zero in on the voice, but all I saw was darkness. 

"What's going on? Who's there?" From the shadows a pair of deep red eyes appeared and glowed softly.

"Better?" He asked.

"Uh, slightly? You're not going to...eat...me...are you?" I said quietly. He stared at me before busting out in laughter.

"Oh Deathaniel wasn't joking, you're such a scaredy cat! HAHAHAhahaaaaaa phew! I needed a good laugh. Okay rocks-for-brains, I suppose I should introduce myself." Walking closer to me, his bobbing pair of eyes were disorienting me with his lack of a body. It wasn't until he was kneeling right in front of me that I could make out his features.

"I'm your partner. The name's Bloodfang. I'm not going to keep calling you Soul so pick a name and we can start getting this fixer-upper ready to go." His tall bat like ears swiveled around and his large canines protruded from his smiling mouth like those vampire movies, except his face reminded me of like a wolf and a pug.

"What are you?" I asked in awe.

"Not saying anything till you pick a name." Fang stood up and crossed his arms, or at least I assumed so since he was back in the shadows. Hmmmm, a name... Something badass like Bloodfang? No no, I want something people will underestimate me for. I got it!

"Nice to meet you Bloodfang, you can call me Carl!" I said with a hop to my voice.

"Carl. You picked Carl, as your name?" He asked in a deadpan voice.

"Mmhmm! Imagine, if you heard some name like Flesh Render or whatever you'd be more on guard. BUT! If you were shaking hands with someone named Carl, do feelings of fear and murderlust come to mind? I don't think so." I said smugly.

"Ugh, but why Carl," He whispered. "Well, whatever, nice to meet you...Carl. Now lets go over a few things, Okay?" Walking back to me, he reached down and picked me up.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!? Let me go!" I yelled in panic. Wild fearful emotions rampaged across my mind from being dropped and crushed to being turned into a slave for some weapon.

"You feel all those emotions of yours? They're not because of any insecurity issues I know you have, but ingrained memories of past Dungeon Cores that failed to defend themselves. Let this be a lesson, you cannot afford to be weak. Got it?" he said sternly.

"Yeah I fucking get it, now put me down before I have a panic attack!" Finally he put me back down and I could breath again, though shakily. "You...are...such an asshole. Don't do that again," I warned.

"A necessary evil I'm afraid, but now you have an idea what's at stake if your monsters aren't strong enough to defend you," He said in a slightly apologetic tone, though I don't think he has a sorry bone in his fucked up body.

"Hey, what are you anyways? You never told me."

Snorting, he answered, "I'm a Chimera. The majority of my being is Bat, Dragon, Wolf and Human," He said with Pride. Must be the dragon part, aren't dragons overly proud?

"So a rodent, a lizard, a dog and a primate. Wooooo, so cool," I said teasingly. Bloodfangs eyes grew brighter and I could see him glaring at me with a growl rumbling through the darkness. 

"I'm just fucking with you! Being part Dragon is awesome! Now how about YOU stop being such a crybaby and tell me how to fix this whole 'I can't see shit' problem, eh?" I asked. Still glaring, he stared at me for a few moments before closing his eyes and sighing.

"Okay, fine. I guess it's time we start getting to work. First, we gotta expand your presence. Right now, you barely have the room covered and we need to fix that before we make any changes." He stood there blinking for a few moments, as if waiting for me to do something.

"Okay, well how do I go about doing that?" I asked.

"Easy! I've helped a few Dungeons in the past and the best way to explain it is like trying to take a shit. Pretend like your constipated and give your bowels a good push." Slightly grossed out with his explanation, I followed his instructions.

Slowly, but surely, I noticed a small aura emitting from around me I could almost feel the stone walls, like a ghost limb sensation. 

"Hey Bloodfang, how do you feel about me touching you? You like that? Hmmmm?" 

"Grow up, will you? Anyways, you can feel the stone in the room right?" He asked, to which I answered yes.

"Good. Now that's step one. Next we need to practice importing and exporting."

"What is this, a fucking port?" 

"Dumbass, just listen. You can import ideas that already exist in the Hellscape and create them here. For instance, clear your mind and concentrate on the word 'Light Sources' and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about," he said in a tired voice.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Saying nothing, I decided to stop being so difficult and do what he said. Clear my mind...Light Sources....Nothings happening. 

I try a few more times to clear my mind completely and eventually I get something like a menu.

Light Sources Description Cost Blood of Fire  From sparks to infernos, the fires blood runs hotter than magma. 1,000 D Frozen Souls Said to be the souls of titans entombed in ice. Radiates power and strength. 1,500 D Heart of Stone  A fragment from the core of a dead world, it changes and morphs the soil and minerals. 2,000 D

"Hey, what gives Fang? All these 'Light Sources' don't sound like they just give off light!" I asked, worried. 

"What? Tell me what they say." As I finished relaying the descriptions to him, he stood there pondering his thoughts. "Hmm, it looks like the options are also monster Spawns. I doubt you have enough energy for all three so we're going to have to pick one and stick with it for now while we wait for you to recover."

He walked back to me and sat cross legged before taking a deep sigh. "Okay, so lesson two. Everything you do from spreading your presence to spawning monsters takes energy, got it? Dungeon Cores don't use any of that mana bullshit except for enchanting things or if we're trying to manipulate one of your creations. Instead, they use their own energy called D. No one knows what it stands for, but it's unique to Dungeon Cores only and it's what powers almost everything you do. Now in order to summon one of those spawns you have to find your D."  If I had a mouth, it would be gaping. He wants me to do WHAT? 

"I'm sorry, you want me to look for my D? To what, fondle it?" Slapping his forehead, Fangs head leaned back and he groaned. 

"For fuck's sake, just do the thing I told you about,  similar to how to find light sources but think of your D pool instead, it should be easier to find. 

Concentrating, I focus on my inner D. It took a few tries because I couldn't stop laughing at my immature thoughts, but eventually I got it with less effort than before.

D pool 1,870/2,000

"How big is your D?" He asked after I confirmed I could do it.

"Now why would you want to know? Fuckin perv," I said testily. So what? It's not the size that matters, but how I use it!

"Relax, I'm just joking," he said after laughing at my response. "But seriously, how much energy to you have left?" He asked.

"...My energy's at 1,870 right now. Does it regenerate?" I asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Hmm, it's that big but that's okay, it'll grow over time. It regenerates naturally over time but takes much longer without monsters and life in your dungeon. Any life, foreign or native to a Dungeon will contribute a small but constant stream of energy back to you, with large bursts every time something dies. It's another unique function for Dungeons," He said.

Only a little peeved about the size comment, I ignored that and continue, "Okay, so what do you think I should pick? Either the Blood of Fire or Frozen Souls but the Souls one costs a lot more."

"Well Frozen Souls sound like it will make stronger monsters, but that'll leave us with much less energy to make monsters and start carving some rooms. I say we go with Blood of Fire for now. And before you ask I'll tell you what to do. You know how you can feel the stone in here? Focus in on the far corner over there where it kinda dips like a bowl," he said, pointing a shadowy finger to the far back corner of the room. 

Closing my figurative eyes, I focused on the room and found the spot. 

"Okay, now what?" I asked

"Now find the lowest part of the bowl there and think about the Blood of Fire while trying to take a shit. You know, the same feeling of spreading your presence? We gotta concentrate on only that spot while constantly thinking about the Blood of Fire," he instructed.

Taking a few deep breaths to prepare myself, I closed my eyes and squeezed on my Dungeon bowels. Feeling a rush of energy leaving me almost made me lose my focus, but I clamped back down on my D sphincter until several messages appeared.

Congratulations!   

By creating your first monster spawn of this type, the monsters and fauna that naturally develop from it will be stronger than its other counterparts! 

Boss Spawn By creating a spawn pool in your core room, it's been upgraded to a boss spawner!

Oh shit.

As an orange and red began to flood the room at a steady pace, Fang and I turned our vision to the new monster spawn pool. Correction. BOSS spawn pool. And once the liquid fire reached the mouth of the bowl it stopped and a red bubble began to grow from the middle of it, showing our reflection in it's glossy surface. 

"Uhhh, Fang? You might want to...run?" I said awkwardly.

"Good idea!" He stood rapidly and ran to the opposite side of the room.

"Hey! What about me?! Don't just leave me here!" I yelled at his back.

"You'll be fine! It won't hurt you one bit! In fact it might clean some of that dirt off of you!" He yelled back without turning around. Prick!

Nervous, I stare at the ever increasing bubble, wondering how much bigger it'll grow before it's cherry pops. After about a minute and the things bigger than the diameter of the pool itself, I gulp and would be pissing myself if I had a bladder.

But then it popped and I saw magic. It splashed everywhere around me and wherever the liquid touched, something grew from it. Small dark blades of grass with pulsing edges like the embers of a dead fire grew. Multiple Small smoldering saplings with the complexion of ash grew several feet tall closer to the pool. Soot colored mushrooms began sprouting in the pool side corners with small black tendrils waving below them. Long bone white colored vines reached down from the ceiling with small curved sickles running down their sides and long willowy ember grass growing between them. 

So in awe with my new surroundings I failed to see the large creature crawling out of the burning pond until it started to stand on it's two legs. I watched as it grew taller until it towered above me and even Bloodfang who had returned from cowering in the back. Instead of the liquid dripping down, it grew outward from its large body before hardening into a shiny, jagged black surface. The monster with its glossy black body had two arms and legs that ended with talons and claws that could easily rip and tear while using its bulging wolf like legs to maneuver quickly. Black twisted spikes protruded out from it's knees, elbows and it's head like a lions mane. Except for fur, it was a flowing crown of death that ended in sharp points angled outwards and back.

Two burning orbs of orange-red stared down at Carl before the beast knelled and planted  a spiked fist towards the ground near its lowered head.

"Faaaather. I am yourrrrrrs to commannnnd." It said in a rich baritone, struggling to get the words out.

Bloodfang and I kept looking back and forth between each other and the monster, unsure what just happened. Except, I knew what just happened.

My first boss has been born and he is...Magnificent.