Apollo, contrary to every other waking moment of his existence, was perfectly still. He was in shock, although he wouldn't learn that shock was the word for what he felt until much later. Mama was hurt, and the world seemed to be waiting. The wisp broke from his stupor and raced to the crystal in the center of the room. There was a web of cracks spread through the interior of the core, and the glow inside was quickly fading. Apollo noticed these, but what brought greater concern was the cold. He had spent his whole life in a cave full of [WILL-O-WISP]s and a [DUNGEON CORE] with a fire affinity. He was made of fire. The cold was something he never had and never should have experienced, but he could feel his light dimming. At once Apollo used his power as [LIEUTENANT] to have all ten of the other wisps surround the core. In unison they flared their flames, and the crystal became lost in a sea of flame. But the cold was only slowed, not stopped. [MINOR PYROMANCY] was dragged forth, and Apollo shoved all of his energy into the skill. And then he fed more, and more, and more. Unlike pure mana, fire mana could be affected quite strongly by emotion, and the wisp had quite a bit to call on. The flames were fed by his desperation, by his fear, by his rage that the cold would dare to try and take Mama away. Even as those fuels failed, he still powered on, giving everything he had to pure heat. The stone plinth that held the core began to melt as the flames changed to a pure white as Apollo poured his own flames, his body, his soul into driving away the cold. And as everything faded to black and his light dimmed, he was given one last message.
[[SOUL BOND]{LASAIR} ESTABLISHED.]
----------------------------------------
[[SOUL BOND]{APOLLO} ESTABLISHED.]
what?
Lasair, for the second time in this world, came to groggily. She was confused, tired, and everything hurt.
Status.
[STATUS LOADING...]
WARNING: HEALTH CRITICAL
[STATUS]: LASAIR
[CLASS]: {SOUL BOUND} DUNGEON CORE
[ROOMS]: 2
[AFFINITY(S]): FIRE, MANA
[LIEUTENANTS]: {SOUL BOUND} [WILL-O-WISP]{APOLLO}
[ABILITIES]: SHAPE SELF, EXPAND, INSPECT, SPAWN, MINOR MANA DIRECTION, LESSER PYROMANCY, LESSER MANA WEAVING
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The fuck is a soul bond?
And then it all came back. The practice, the two new skills, how she had stupidly rushed into expanding without testing the limits of [LESSER MANA WEAVING]. How she couldn't stop.
Wheres Apollo?
It took Lasair almost a full minute to find him. She had been looking for a bright floating ball of fire, but when she found him he was far less. Her wisp was laid on the melted plinth that held her core. Even more concerning than the plinth being melted or her crystal having some strange white threads running through it, was the lack of Apollo's flame. He was just a crimson orb, lacking his pure white fire. The only visual differentiating him from a marble was the lethargic pulses of light that ran through him. She pulled on her mana affinity, searching for the cause of his weakness. Certain parts of his structure were just... gone. No, not gone, moved. The threads within her come, they were the parts that Apollo was missing. Something he seemed to have gained was a strand of some kind of mana that Lasair couldn't identify. It linked the two of them, and she could feel the bond, like a muscle she could flex.
[INSPECT]: [SOUL BOND]: THIS BOND LINKS TWO WHO HAVE SHARED PIECES OF THEIR SOULS, AND CAN SEND POWER, INFORMATION, AND FEELING BETWEEN THEM
Praying that this would help, Lasair tried to send him back the pieces of himself that he had given her. Only a few gave, and they brought pieces of her with them. Apollo's flame began to flicker, no longer its blinding white. As it came back to full intensity, the fire was visibly crimson, the same shade as both her core and Apollo's main body. His light was still dim though, and so Lasair sent across the few dregs of energy that she had acquired while she slept through the [SOUL BOND]. His light began to brighten, and she could feel that he would be okay. He would need rest though, so she let him be.
The next order of business was to catalog all that she had. Both all that she had gained from the expansion and all that she had yet to [INSPECT]. She could not afford to be blindsided by another skill not acting as she thought it would. Sending her vision down the passageway, Lasair was bombarded by a barrage of alerts.
[CORRIDOR FOUND. UNLOCKING TRAPS...]
[TRAPS UNLOCKED: SPIKE PIT, PITFALL, TRIPWIRE, SNARE, FALLING STONES.]
[FIRE MANA DETECTED. ADDING TRAPS: SMALL FLAMETHROWER, MOLTEN PITFALL.]
[MULTIPLE ROOMS DETECTED. UNLOCKING [ASSIGN] CAPABILITIES.]
[MULTIPLE ROOMS DETECTED. UNLOCKING [CHESTS].]
[[CHESTS] DETECTED. UNLOCKING TREASURE: BRONZE COIN, SILVER COIN, GOLD COIN, MANASTONE.]
[FIRE MANA DETECTED. ADDING TREASURE: FLAME-TOUCHED MANASTONE.]
[TREASURE DETECTED. UNLOCKING [ARTIFACTS]...]
[ARTIFACTS UNLOCKED: MANA-TOUCHED SWORD, MANA-TOUCHED SHIELD.]
[FIRE MANA DETECTED. ADDING ARTIFACTS: SWORD OF LESSER FLAME.]
[[ASSIGN] CAPABILITIES UNLOCKED. POSITIONS UNLOCKED: GUARD, SCOUT, HORDE, BOSS.]
[FIRE MANA DETECTED. POSITIONS ADDED: KEEPER OF THE FLAME.]
[MULTIPLE ROOMS DETECTED. ABILITY UNLOCKED: [ALERT].]
[MULTIPLE ROOMS DETECTED. ABILITY UNLOCKED: [A DUNGEON'S PURPOSE].]
[MULTIPLE ROOMS DETECTED. ABILITY UNLOCKED: [LESSER MANA SENSE].]
[ABILITIES: [LESSER MANA SENSE, LESSER MANA WEAVING, AND MINOR MANA DIRECTION] HAVE BEEN CONSOLIDATED TO [LESSER MANA CONTROL].]
That's a lot to take in.